


Persona 5: The Phantom Investigator

by Accendere



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, At least he's stronger than Loki, F/M, He's also from Inaba, How Do I Tag, I love tagging!, Kurusu Akira is a Shadow Operative, OP Arsene, Personas can communicate with each other, Shiva has a female version like Orpheus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 21:18:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 38,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18039215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accendere/pseuds/Accendere
Summary: Akira Kurusu, a close friend of the Investigation Team and a member of the Shadow Operatives is sent to probation in the city of Tokyo after being falsely charged for assault. However, at the start of his school year, he discovers another alternate reality and is given a mission by the leader of the Shadow Operatives to investigate it.





	1. Introduction

**Hi, I'm a newbie here at Archive of Our Own. In Fanfiction.net, I'm known as RedOmega. It's also where most of my works are at.**

**This is rated M because it's the game's original rating.**

* * *

Life is just unfair.

That's especially true for Akira Kurusu's current situation.

After being falsely accused for assault and the court deeming him guilty, he was expelled and is now being sent to probation.

When his only friends, everyone of the Investigation Team and the Shadow Operatives and their Personas heard about this injustice, they were pissed.

Yu Narukami and Naoto Shirogane, who are both detectives and are working as partners, are working on the case to prove that Akira is innocent and Mitsuru Kirijo, the leader of the Shadow Operatives, has been repeatedly demanding the court to double check the case. However, since the drunken man's name was not shown in any of the records, it became a lot more difficult finding any leads to his identity.

Speaking of Personas, Arsene was as pissed as everyone does. Akira often speaks to him in his mind since he doesn't even have much friends in school.

Being a member of the Shadow Operatives, Akira was given an Evoker to summon Arsene in reality. However, he had another way of summoning: taking off his mask. By taking off his mask, it is meant to be quite literal. Because while in the TV World or when summoning Arsene in reality, Akira is the only one with a wardrobe change, which the clothing makes him look like a thief, befitting of the gentleman thief Arsene.

It's been 4 years since he met the Investigation Team and became a Shadow Operative.

The year he met all of them was the best time of his life.

Being sent to Tokyo wouldn't be so bad, actually, since most of them would be there for different purposes.

This might be an interesting year for him.

* * *

**Lame intro, ain't it? Sorry, I'm not really good at starting a story.**

**Just so you guys know, I'm just doing this for fun so there will be no scheduled chapters.**


	2. Another Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira discovers another Shadow-infested reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't care what people say, I made Arsene have the two skills that were in the game's prologue. Here, Arsene is little OP unlike in the game. I wanted Arsene to be as OP as Loki but I'm still deciding it. Plus, I think I'm going to have Arsene have a second form. Why? I'm inspired by the Picaro Personas.

Okay, things got a LOT more interesting than he expected.

Before his first day, he met the long nose guy, Igor, in the Velvet Room that Yu and Aigis once talked about, including the two twin wardens, who are supposed attendants.

Next, stumbling into a castle filled with knights wearing some masks with a delinquent was NOT something he expected to happen on his first day of school.

However, he just wished he shouldn't have let his guard down, which led him and the blonde one to get tossed in a cell.

And now, the king, which looked exactly like the man he met earlier apparently named Kamoshida, who is wearing nothing but a crown, coat and a pink speedo came to the cell along with his knights and is currently beating up the blonde delinquent with an attempt of an execution.

The yellow eyes of the king and menacing aura that is emitting from the "knights" is enough for Akira to figure out what they are.

Shadows.

"Do it!"

Akira hears Arsene's yell as he took out his Evoker, a gun-shaped item used for summoning Personas in the real world.

"Huh!?"

The king turned around with a confused expression as he saw the gun pointed at Akira's head,  **"You really want to die that badly, huh?"**

The blonde one, Sakamoto, as the king of lust called him, widened his eyes in shock and horror, "Dude, what the hell are you doing!?"

Akira smirked and gazed at Sakamoto with the cocky expression that he often sported as a Shadow Operative.

"Busting us outta here,"

And with that, he pulled the trigger.

In the next moment, he became surrounded with blue flames he was so ever familiar of. His school uniform was replaced with long black high-collared coat with gray clothing beneath along with black pants and boots as well as blood-colored gloves.

Chains rattled around him from who knows where as Arsene manifested behind him from the flames, letting out a deep, menacing laughter that frightened the king and the blonde student.

Akira swiftly held out his arms in command and Arsene spread out his wings, which knocked back all of the knights near them and caused Kamoshida(?) to crawl away from them in fear. Sakamoto, in particular, just stared in both fear and awe at the scene before him, "W-What the...?"

Arsene chuckled as put his hands on his hips, "I thought you were going to let him die here, Akira." Sakamoto flinched when the strange being spoke.

"Sorry. Got in a state of shock here." Akira apologized as he put away his Evoker.

"Dude, What the hell is that!?" Sakamoto exclaimed in disbelief, "And your clothes...!"

"Cool, right?" Akira grinned.

"'Cool'!?" The blonde cried, "Well, yeah, it kinda is—Now's not the time to talk about that!"

"Well, you started it." Arsene retorted in amusement, "By the way, my name is Arsene. A pleasure to meet you er... Sakamoto-san, right?"

Sakamoto flinched again when the winged thief was now speaking to him but managed to let out a simple response, "U-Uh, yeah..."

 **"Who the hell are you!?"**  The two teenagers and Persona turned around and sees Kamoshida(?) glaring daggers at them and points his finger at Akira, "Guards! Start by killing that one!"

In the next moment, the two guards bursts into masses of black and red liquid and a new form took shape once the liquid subsided. Akira and Arsene immediately realize that they're enemies that they are very familiar with.

"Pyro Jacks... Looks like they really are Shadows." Akira commented.

Arsene nodded in agreement, "Indeed."

 **"I'll show you the true strength of my men!"** Kamoshida(?) grinned sadistically.

Akira stared at the Pyro Jacks for a moment and let out a cocky smirk, even Arsene laughed at their opponents' level of strength.

"This is their true strength? Looks like you needed to work them out more." Akira scoffed as he took out his uniquely-shaped dagger.

One Pyro Jack charges at them but Arsene effortlessly grabbed a hold of the lantern it was carrying. The winged thief was not very gentle (no pun intended) as he mercilessly dug his claws beneath its skin and dark aura began to cover his entire hand.

**"Eiha."**

The spell bursts from the inside of the pumpkin's head as it brutally exploded to pieces. The scattered remains of it then disintegrate into nothingness.

Once Arsene had dealt with the first Pyro Jack, Akira dashed at the other one at inhuman speed that there wasn't even enough time for their opponent to react before Akira cleanly pierced its head and continually slashed it before jumping back at a safer distance. However, before the Pyro Jack could lurched forward, Akira took out something from his coat and pointed it directly at the pumpkin head's face, which is revealed to be a handgun.

The battle ended the moment he pulled the trigger.

"Holy shit..." Sakamoto stared in awe.

As the remains of their enemy disappear, the king approached them with a baleful glare and trembling fists.

**"You little...!"**

However before he could finish his sentence, Sakamoto got up and slammed his body onto him, knocking the so-called king back.

"Ha! You like that, you son of a bitch!?"

Seeing this opportunity, Akira yelled, "The keys!"

Sakamoto looked over the keys on the floor dropped by one of the guards earlier, "Y-You mean this!?"

Sakamoto swiped the keys from the ground as Akira turned to look at his Persona for a moment, nodding at him, "Let's go, Arsene."

"Right." The winged gentleman thief returned the gesture in agreement blue flames covered his entire form and the flames went straight to Akira's face, forming into a black and white avian mask. Akira immediately followed Sakamoto and the latter hurriedly locked the cell gate and turned to the frizzy-haired teenager, his eyes widening in surprise at the newly added feature on his form, "Whoa, dude! What's with the mask? And where's that huge guy?"

"I'll explain later." Akira replied, "Let's just focus on escaping right now."

Sakamoto nodded, "Y-Yeah!—Aaah!"

Sakamoto got startled once Kamoshida(?) loudly gripped the cell bars,  **"You bastards!"**

Sakamoto scratched his head both in confusion and frustration, "God, this is effin' nuts!"

"Come on!" Akira exclaimed.

"R-Right!" The blonde threw the keys to the river and followed the frizzy-haired boy.

 _"Arsene! Do you have any idea where the hell are we?"_  Akira spoke in his mind as he ran through the dungeon and jumped on platforms.

"I'm not sure but it feels very similar to the TV World." Arsene replied, "That guy just now was surely the shadow of that muscle head guy you encountered earlier."

The guy from the car...

"Then, does that mean that this castle is the manifestation of his desires? Like what happened years ago?"

"Possibly." Arsene said, "However, the most important question is: how did we get here?"

Akira nearly stopped but kept on running to think about what his other self had said. That is a good question. How did they get here in the first place? All they did was walk to school. Akira could tell that even though that this place is very similar to the TV World, this is an entirely different place unknown to him. He could sense an immense amount of negativity in this place that is even more so than the TV World.

A flash of realization hit him when he retraced his memories.

"Could it be because of that app!?"

Akira stopped for a bit, causing Sakamoto to nearly crash into him, and took out his phone. Akira widened his eyes once he saw that the screen was completely covered by the symbol of the app and he couldn't gain access of anything in the phone.

"D-Dude, what's wrong!?"

"..."

"I'm pretty sure that creepy old Pinocchio has something to do with this." Arsene said.

"...Hey, you there."

"Blondie! Frizzy Hair! Look over here!"

The two heard a feminine voice and they looked over at the last cell near the drawbridge. In there, they see a black cartoonish-looking cat with an oversized head and gigantic blue eyes with a yellow scarf.

"What is this thing!?" Sakamoto exclaimed in surprised upon seeing the strange creature.

Akira, however, didn't look too surprised and still held his deadpanned expression on his face.

"You're not soldiers of this castle, right!? Get me out of here!" The feline-looking creature pleaded, "Look, the keys right there!"

"We're trying to get the hell out of here...!" Sakamoto loudly replied, "I mean, you obviously look like an enemy too!'

"I'm locked up here, so how can I be your enemy!? Help me out!"

"Okay, point taken." Akira said as he took the key that was hanging from the wall, "In exchange, guide us the way out of here."

The black cat's face brightened up, "Will do!"

Sakamoto turned to Akira in a shock, "Dude!? Why are you-mph!?"

"Shh..." Akira immediately covered the blonde's mouth once he heard the metal steps of the soldiers. He then pull back his hand and Sakamoto took a deep breath, grateful that the soldiers were gone.

"Before we go, I need to clarify something." Akira said.

"What is it?" The cat asked.

"Are you a Shadow?"

The cat's eyes widened in shock and immediately shook his hand, looking slightly offended, "I am not! Don't compare me to those things! I'm a human! But I lost my form..." He mumbled the last part so quietly that only Akira could hear it.

"Human?" Sakamoto raised one of his eyebrows, "But you're a cat!"

"Don't call me a cat! Say it again and I'll make you regret it!" The not-cat shot back.

Akira realized that they're wasting too much time talking and hurriedly unlocked the cell gate, freeing the strange creature.

"Ahhhh... Freedom tastes so great..." Says the feline as he stretched his limbs in satisfaction.

"Now, where's the exit, you monster cat!?" Sakamoto rudely (and loudly) asks.

The black feline stomped his foot in frustration, "I said don't call me a cat! I am Morgana!"

Akira proceeded to knock the two of them at the back of their heads, which caused the two to rubbed their heads in pain as Akira deadpannedly scolds them, "Shut the hell up, you two. Instead of escaping immediately, you two are going to attract the guards and get us tossed in the cell again."

"S-Sorry..." The two apologized in shame.

The raven then turned to the not-cat named Morgana, "Alright, Morgana, was it? Lead us to the exit please."

Morgana smirked, "You're so calm despite being in a dangerous situation and well-mannered, too. Well, anyways, let's go."

The two teenagers proceeded to follow Morgana until he immediately stopped in front of the eerie statue that they passed by earlier.

"What're you doin'?" Sakamoto asked.

Morgana turned around, "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm lowering the bridge." He then turned to Akira, "You, Frizzy Hair. It seems like you pick up on things faster than our Blondie over there. Try checking around the mouth of this statue, OK?"

"The mouth?... Oh." Akira stepped forward and pulled down the mouth of the statue of that perverted bastard from earlier, which causes the statue's eyes to glow yellow as well as lowering the drawbridge.

"How the hell were we supposed to know that!?" Sakamoto exclaimed, incredulous.

"Video game logic." Akira simply replied.

"Hmph, amateur." Morgana scoffed, "Come on, let's keep going!"

The three of them ran through the drawbridge, however, just as they went through it, a guard emerged from the open door.

"A-Aah! Shit... Shit, it's them!" Sakamoto cried as he fell backwards in a panic.

Morgana hopped from Sakamoto's shoulder, facing the enemy, "Tch... You amateur. Stay still!" He then briefly turned to Akira, "Hey, you! You could fight, right? Let's go!" Morgana did a small backflip and glared at their opponent with eyes filled with determination, "Come... Zorro!"

Blue flames bursted from the feline and another large figure emerged and hovered above Morgana. It was an incredibly muscular man with beefy arms, which was a contrast to his stick-like legs. He wore a rather formal Spanish-like suit and had a huge 'Z' buckle on his belt and his mustache is in a shape similar to that of a boomerang. He swung his sword multiple times, forming the letter 'Z', in his introduction.

"Pardon my late introduction young señors, I am Zorro." The muscular persona politely introduced himself, in contrast to Morgana's condescending attitude.

"Y-You got one of those things, too!?"

The guard then turned into two different Shadows, one of them is the same as the ones Akira fought earlier, as Morgana crosses his arms in arrogance, "Hmph, we will promptly shut them up!"

Akira then grasped his mask and called the name of his Persona, "Arsene!"

Arsene then emerged from Akira, glaring at his two opponents before turning to the swordsman and did a polite bow.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, my name is Arsene." The gentlemanly thief introduced himself.

The swordsman bowed as well, "Likewise, Señor Arsene."

"Uh, guys!?"

The two Personas heard the feline's scream and turned their heads towards their users and saw that they're dodging the attacks of their opponents. Morgana yelped when he nearly got hit by the lantern the Shadow was holding and Akira just continued to dodge attacks while having a calm expression on his face.

"Ah! My apologies, Señor Morgana!" Zorro turned briefly to Arsene, "Your user is surprisingly calm about this."

"He's used to fighting Shadows." Arsene simply replied and the two of them joined their users in battle.

Akira dodged another attack as Arsene flew beside him. He couldn't hide his smirk because he knows the difference of strength between him, Arsene and those Shadows.

Their opponents are mere weaklings.

**"Eigaon."**

Immense amount of dark energy surrounded the demon-like Shadow until it was completely consumed into nothingness.

 **"Garu!"**  The two thieves turned to their other companion just in time to see Zorro casts the spell as he stabbed the pumpkin head shadow and it disintegrates to nothingness when numerous slices of wind slashed through it.

"Not bad! You're Persona's pretty powerful." Morgana complemented as he and Zorro made their way to Akira and Arsene, "The way you fight made it clear that you're experienced in fighting Shadows."

"Indeed." Zorro nodded in agreement.

Akira smiled in response, "Thanks."

"Seriously! This whole thing is just effin' crazy!" Sakamoto exclaimed as the four combatants turned to the blonde. Sakamoto pointed his finger at the two large beings, "I mean, just what the hell are you two!?"

"We're Personas." Arsene simply answered.

Sakamoto quirked an eyebrow, "Persona...?"

Akira shrugged, "Basically, they're the manifestation of our psyches." However, Akira then sighed when he realized that Sakamoto wouldn't get it, "Anyway, let's just go. We're late for class."

Sakamoto widened his eyes in shock, "Seriously!? That's what you're more worried about right now!?"

"Come on." The thief said sternly.

"See you later, Zorro-san." Arsene said as he turned back into Akira's mask.

"Adios, Señor Arsene." Zorro replied as he disappeared.

 _"This guy really has the markings of a thief..."_ Morgana thought while smiling for some reason.

Akira, Morgana and Sakamoto then proceeded to run through the dungeons. Along the way, they see some tortured slaves locked up in cells and hanging cages above the river, with Sakamoto noting that they look familiar to him.

"Come on! We need to get going!" Morgana exclaimed.

"Hold on a sec!"

Morgana impatiently jumps, "Is this really the time for you to be worrying about other people now!?"

"Akira! I sense one on the other side of the bridge!" Arsene's yell alarmed Akira as he immediately took out his gun and dagger, which alerted the other two. The bridge descended down and the Shadow on it had changed into a Pixie.

Not letting the enemy have a chance to react, Akira immediately grasped his mask and called out his friend, "Arsene!  **Brave Blade**!"

Arsene immediately rushed towards the Pixie before his form even completely manifested and gave his enemy a roundhouse kick, which his bladed heels slashed the form of the Shadow, defeating it.

"Dude... That was awesome..." Sakamoto said in awe.

"You took it out before the battle even started." Morgana added, "You're really something."

Akira scratched the back of his head sheepishly but he then pouted when Arsene let out a chuckle over his embarrassment as he disappeared.

"Anyway, let's just go." The other two nodded in agreement as they crossed the bridge to the entrance hall.

"We're here!" Morgana said.

"Finally! We're saved...!" Ryuji sighed and ran towards the farthest door, tugging the handle, "It's not openin'" Ryuji glared at the cartoonish cat, "D'you trick us, you jerk!?"

"Don't jump to conclusions!" The cat retorted.

"Uh, Sakamoto-san. I think the exit is over here." Akira said as he pointed at the door that is on the opposite side of the other one. Sakamoto's cheeks flushed in embarrassment as he scratched the back of his head.

"Come on!" Morgana said and the two followed him to the room.

The two looked around the room and it seems that Sakamoto was the only one who didn't notice.

"Where the hell's the exit!? There aren't even any windows here!"

"Ugh, amateur..." Morgana sighed exasperatedly, "This is the most basic of basics."

Akira already knew what Morgana is talking about and gazed at their possible exit, "Does that ventilation shaft lead all the way outside?"

The feline's face immediately brightened up and smiled proudly at Akira, "That's right! As I thought, you're a natural at this."

"I see." Sakamoto said as he rolled his stiff shoulders, "Then we just gotta get that metallic mesh off!" He ran towards the shaft and climbed the shelves, "And a one, and a—"

_*CLANG*_

"Whoa...!"

_*SMASH*_

Sakamoto painfully got up to his feet after forcefully taking off the mesh and falling clumsily, "Ow... Crap! The enemy didn't hear us, did they!?"

"I'm pretty sure the whole country of Japan heard that." Akira flatly commented at how loud that was.

Ignoring his deadpanned joke, Sakamoto turned to his schoolmate in relief, "Seriously, were finally gettin' outta here...!"

"You should wait on celebrating until you actually get out. Now, get going." Morgana said.

"But, what about you?" Sakamoto asked.

"There's something I still have to do. Were going our separate ways."

Akira smiled softly, "Thanks."

Morgana returned the gesture, "Heh. You've got manners. Be careful on your way."

Akira nodded as he followed Sakamoto in climbing the shelves and crawling through the exit.

Morgana stared at the exit for a minute before crossing his arms, "Those two seem useful. Especially the frizzy-haired one, if my judgment's right."

"Indeed." Zorro materialized beside Morgana, "That one and his Persona seem to be very experienced in fighting Shadows."

Morgana nodded in agreement.

—

*huff* *huff* *huff*

"Did we make it?" Sakamoto asked worriedly, with his hands still on his knees.

"Yep." Akira replied as he took out his phone.

"You have returned to the real world. Welcome back." The navigation app's feminine voice can be heard by both of them despite being on the loudly crowded streets.

"Huh? Returned...?" Sakamoto absentmindedly repeated, "Does that mean we got away?"

"Probably." Akira said, his voice still completely devoid of worry or panic.

"I dunno what to think anymore..." Sakamoto sighs exasperatedly before taking on a serious expression, "What was all that anyways...? That castle, and Kamoshida, and that weird cat! The hell's going on!?"

Akira had an idea what that place might be but decided to keep his mouth shut. After all, the blonde student was just an ordinary civilian unlike him who is secretly a member of an extermination unit meant to deal with Shadows and Persona-related activities. Then again, Sakamoto got a glimpse of an alternate reality inhabited by Shadows, maybe he needed to answer at least some of his questions or else people might think he's on drugs.

After that, he had to keep himself from laughing when the cops came and expressed the same thing Akira just thought.

Still, though...

What was that world?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Akira uses the Evoker to summon Arsene in the real world. He doesn't need it in the TV World because his clothing already changes. In the Metaverse, Akira only uses his Evoker when he's not viewed as a threat, after that he uses the mask summoning.


	3. First Day of School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira's First Day of School at Shujin Academy.

The first school day was less than desirable for Akira Kurusu.

Aside from the fact that he and someone else stumbled into another reality inhabited by Shadows, getting attacked by a king wearing a speedo and his knights, as well as meeting a talking supernatural cat who can use a Persona like he is, everything after that was a huge headache compared what happened earlier.

First of all, he met the guy from the car earlier, Suguru Kamoshida, when he got to the entrance. He doesn't seem to remember what his Shadow did earlier but that doesn't stop Akira from labeling the volleyball coach as a complete douchebag, especially after seeing what he's truly like, literally. Secondly, he found out that his criminal record was posted on the school website so pretty much everybody in the school knows about it. Thirdly, everyone kept spreading rumors about him, like bringing a knife to school or that he killed someone. Speaking of weapons, he was glad that the school doesn't do any bag inspections and he would've been in serious trouble if they found out he's bringing a gun (his Evoker) to school (which he always carries with him), even if it's not a real one. Do those people even know the meaning of 'privacy'? Though, for now, he was a bit glad that people are staying away from him because he needed some time for himself to think, which is the biggest source of his headache the fact that another world existed other than the TV World. He kept racking his brain about it and even Arsene helped brainstorming, nearly not paying attention to class. He remembered the long stories that the Investigation Team and Shadow Operatives told him. Maybe another god created that place? That's his most probable theory at the moment. But still, what was that app on his phone? Maybe it had something to do with Igor. However, he couldn't continue his thoughts when the bell rang. He'll just report this to Mitsuru once he gets home. Akira put away his things as he grabbed his bag and swiftly walks out of the classroom while ignoring the annoying whispers of his classmates. However, once he got out, his vision suddenly got blurry.

"Huh?"

Is it just him or did the hallway changed...?

Akira pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.

 _"Arsene, did you see what I just saw?"_  He asked in his mind, being a bit hopeful that he wasn't getting any abnormalities in his eyesight.

 _"I did. It seems to be the castle hallway."_ Arsene replied, assuring Akira,  _"But how are we seeing it in the real world?"_

"Looks like I'm gonna have to ask that cat." Akira said as he adjusting his bag.

The frizzy-haired student noticed his homeroom teacher approaching him, "What's wrong?"

Akira shook his head reassuringly, "No, it's nothing. Just a minor headache." It wasn't even a lie.

"I see." Kawakami seemed to believed his answer, "Also... it seems like people are already talking about you. But I'm not the one who told them." Kawakami scratched her head in frustration, "I can't even catch a break... Why do I have to deal with this?"

 _"I'm sure she's just tired."_  Arsene assured his user. Akira mentally nodded in agreement because he had seen that his homeroom teacher seems to be getting drowsy while teaching and is on the verge of passing out.

"You should head straight home without stopping by anywhere." Kawakami told him, "Sakura-san sounded a bit angry."

"Hoo boy..."

His homeroom teacher suddenly took on a worried expression and crossed her arms, "Oh, and about Sakamoto-kun. Don't get involved—Speak of the devil... What do you want? I heard the police caught you cutting classes today." She asks as the blonde-haired delinquent approaches them.

"Ugh... It was nothin'." Sakamoto scoffed.

"And you haven't dyed your hair back to black either..." The teacher added.

 _"Oh, so it was dyed."_  Arsene commented.

 _"Just like Kanji-san..."_  Akira thought.

"Sorry 'bout that." Sakamoto rudely apologized before turning to Akira, whispering, "...I'll be waiting on the rooftop."

Kawakami sighs exasperatedly, "See? That's why I don't want you getting involved. Understood?" She said one last time before walking away.

 _"Aren't these people a little too harsh on that blonde one? Aside from us, that is."_  Arsene said.

Akira mentally shrugged,  _"Who knows?"_

The frizzy-haired student was about to go to his destination until he saw two familiar figures and he had to hide around the corner with no students around so he wouldn't get suspicious.

It was Principal Kobayakawa and Kamoshida.

"Why did you allow a student like him to transfer here? He's already started associating with Sakamoto." Kamoshida asked, "A student with a criminal record, and the culprit of an assault case." He put his hands on his hips, "At this rate, it'd be pointless how much I contribute to the school."

"Now, don't be like that." The Principal said, "This school counts on you, Kamoshida-kun. You are our star. Still, a steady build-up is necessary behind such brilliance as well."

"...Your troubles never seem to end, do they, Principal Kobayakawa?" Kamoshida said before smiling proudly, "All right, I understand. I'll continue to do my best to answer your expectations of me."

They nodded to each other before walking away in different directions. With Kamoshida stopping for a moment with his expression unreadable before walking away.

 _"I really want to smash their faces on the wall. Both of them."_  Arsene said, a bit infuriated.

 _"Is that something a gentleman would do?"_ Akira asked teasingly.

 _"No, but it's something I'm perfectly capable of."_  Arsene replied,  _"Just use your Evoker and I'll do it with pleasure."_

Akira chuckled in amusement "Anyway, let's go before anyone catches me talking to myself."

_"Literally."_

* * *

Akira opened the rooftop door and sees Sakamoto lazily sitting on the chair, rocking it with his leg on the table.

"...There you are. Sorry for callin' you up here like this." Sakamoto said, "I bet Kawakami already told you stuff like 'don't get involved with him', huh?"

"She said you're trouble." Akira simply said before leaning on the table and opening a can of soda he bought from the vending machine before coming here.

Sakamoto scoffed, "Heh, we're pretty much in the same boat. I heard you got a criminal record. Everyone's talking about. No wonder you were so gutsy."

_"Heh. I've been gutsy ever since I got Arsene."_

The blonde-haired delinquent's expression then turned serious and went to the point, "What was all that that happened? You know, how we almost got killed at a castle... It wasn't a dream, right? You remember it too, yeah?"

"It wasn't a dream and before you retort, I can prove it."

"Huh?" Sakamoto became confused.

"Hello there." Arsene leaned over beside Sakamoto from behind, scaring him shitless.

"AAAH!" The blonde slipped and fell from the chair, "Y-You're...!"

Akira held a stern look, "Arsene."

"What? Even if I appeared in front of him, he'll just react the same way. I might as well have some fun."

"You're that guy from earlier!" Sakamoto frantically stood and Akira patted his shoulder.

"Calm down. It's alright. Also, we're the only ones who can see him." Akira said.

"Huh? What? Only us can see this huge guy?"

"This might take a while."

Akira had explained to Sakamoto using only a minimal amount of his knowledge about what happened earlier. He told the blonde about what Personas and Shadows are but decided to keep it at a basic level either because he can't tell him about everything or the blonde just doesn't get most of the deep words he's saying, for Akira, it's mostly the latter.

"...I don't get it." Sakamoto finally said after Akira's explanation.

"Figures." Arsene bluntly said, causing Akira to slightly elbow him, "Ow."

Sakamoto shook his head, "Whatever. Dream or not, you still saved me from Kamoshida" He then smiled gratefully, "So yeah... Thanks, Akira." He turned to Arsene, "And you too, man."

Arsene shook his head, "It was nothing."

"Don't worry about it, Sakamoto-san." Akira replied.

The blonde held up his hand, "Dude, stop with the formalities. Just call me 'Ryuji'. I mean, I never called you by your last name ever since we met."

Akira smiled softly, "Okay, Ryuji."

Ryuji then leaned against his chair, rocking it, "But man, that Kamoshida we saw there. You prolly don't know about it, but there are some rumors about him."

"You mean that ripped douchebag back at the school gate?"

The blonde nodded, somewhat amused by Akira's nickname for that asshole, "Yeah. No one says anything against him 'cause he's some medalist that took the volleyball team to nationals. The way Kamoshida was king of that castle felt crazy real 'cause of that. I wonder if we can go back to that castle again..."

Akira and Arsene looked at each other for a moment before turning back to Ryuji.

"I assume that you plan on going back there. So, I'm just going to ask, why?" Arsene asked suspiciously, though in a more worried tone.

"Well, actually..."

"..."

"...Ah, forget it! It must've been my imagination." Ryuji stood up from the chair, "Sorry to drag you out here like this. That's all I had to say." Ryuji then smiled mischievously, "You know, we might be pretty similar. I feel like we're gonna get along just fine as 'troublemakers'. I'll come talk if I see you around. Don't ignore me, all right?"

Akira shrugged, "You're the first student that I've ever talked to in this school. And you're pretty much the only one who's willing to talk to the 'infamous transfer student'."

Ryuji grinned at his reply, "Alright then, seeya."

Once Ryuji left the rooftop, Akira leaned back against the table and proceeded to finish what was left of his can of soda as Arsene just let himself float in the air in a relaxed posture.

"Ryuji seems nice." Arsene said.

"Mm-hmm." The raven responded as he threw his empty drink to the nearby trash can before leaving.

* * *

Once Akira (and Arsene) went back to Leblanc, he got a short scolding from Sojiro. He pretty much ignored the warnings of his guardian as he kept his mind preoccupied to the events earlier, only responding in understanding of whatever he said that he barely remembered as he went back up to his "room" while the Boss got a call, which Akira assumes that it is one of his girlfriends or something.

Akira then took a cold shower (which he doesn't mind) and took out his laptop (which looked really expensive and brand new and also has the Kirijo name on it) and opened as he took out his earphones and plugged it on the laptop just in case Sojiro might hear the voice of the one he's calling. He waited for a few seconds and soon, she picked up.

The face of Mitsuru Kirijo came into view on the screen, who looked rather surprised, "Akira-kun?"

He waved at her, "Hey, Mitsuru-san."

In the next moment, another figure appeared from behind Mitsuru, she looked like a warrior with a regal aura around her, "Ah, Arsene-kun!"

"Hello there, Artemicia-san." Arsene greeted back with a wave, apparently able to hear anything Akira hears even when the latter is wearing earphones.

"Ah." Akira took a good look at the background and realized that she's in her office, "Sorry, Mitsuru-san. Are you still working? I—"

Mitsuru smiled as she waved her hand reassuringly, "No need to worry, Akira-kun. I was just finished when you called. Considering that you called me at this time of hour, I assume something happened during your first day of school."

The raven smirked at her statement, "Heh. Perceptive as always." His expression turned serious, "Please put this on my list of reports and please make sure to tell all the Persona-users of the Shadow Operatives, including the Investigation Team, what I'm going to say."

Mitsuru's eyes widened at his request before firmly nodding as suddenly she stood up.

"Kikuno! Guard the door and make sure no one gets inside." He heard Mitsuru say. He figured that the maid is also inside the office as well, "I will be having a private discussion with Akira-kun."

"Yes, Milady."

"Also, make sure no one proposes to Mitsuru-san!" Akira suddenly teased, which causes Mitsuru to leaned back down in screen view to glare at him (though, he was unfazed) with a reddened face. Both Arsene and Artemicia chuckled in amusement, due to the fact that the proposing thing is true. Over the years Mitsuru became the head of the Kirijo group, there have been many occasions where she was suddenly proposed to by different business partners, which she all declined.

"Ah, there is no need to worry about that, Akira-sama." The raven heard the maid's voice, "I have personally prepared necessary equipment in eliminating unwanted suitors as they have disturbed her quite enough." Both Akira and Arsene could tell that the tone of her voice has turned menacing at the last part.

"Huh?" Mitsuru had a questioning look as she leaned back up, "Wait. What equipment?"

However, just as her sentence was finished, Akira heard the door closed.

"..."

"..."

The thief Persona broke the silence, "Well, this is awkward..."

"Yes, thanks to your user." Artemicia retorted.

"Anyway, back to the matter at hand." Mitsuru began while taking her seat, her face completely serious.

Akira nodded, his teasing demeanor now gone and is replaced with an expression that is the same as Mitsuru. He went through his pocket and took out his phone, "I guess I should start with..."

* * *

After the long report, Mitsuru leaned back to her seat and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Another Shadow-infested reality accessible through a phone app..."

Akira nodded, "Yeah, it was too sudden that I didn't have time to properly investigate it."

"Do you have any idea how did the app get installed in your phone?" Mitsuru asked.

"I'm not sure, but it's probably because of Igor." He replied.

"Igor?" Artemicia questioned.

"Do you mean that... strange man with the long nose?" Mitsuru asked, which Akira nodded in reply. She remembered that strange elevator but now that she thought about it, she never asked Aigis about that due to being so busy of work.

"That pretty much concludes my report." Akira said.

"A moment." Mitsuru said, "I would like to ask one more thing."

The raven tilted his head, "What is it?"

"Aside from being late due to what happened, how was your first day of school?"

Akira and Arsene looked at each other uneasily before turning back to Mitsuru, "Well, I..."

* * *

=10 minutes later...=

"WHAT!?" Mitsuru nearly slammed her hands on her desk, but her outburst cause Akira to flinch, "Just how incompetent is that school to let a student record be exposed online!?"

"The rumor mill in that school goes really fast and pretty much everyone in the school started spreading rumors like bringing a knife to school." Arsene said, ignoring Akira's protests of fueling Mitsuru's anger.

Mitsuru apparently managed to calm herself down but a scowl is still formed on her face, "I would like to have a word with Shujin's Principal."

"No! There's no need!" Akira protested. He didn't want to disturb Mitsuru's work because of this, especially since she's so busy. Plus, no one knows about his connection with the Kirijo Group and if the head of said group suddenly comes to school because of him, the rumors would skyrocket!, "It would eventually die down on its own. I don't want you to reschedule your work just because of this."

Mitsuru sighs, "...Fine. If you say so. Speaking of your record, I'm not finish with it."

Akira widened his eyes, "You're still looking into my case? I already told you, Mitsuru-san, there's no need for you to—"

The woman interrupted him, "No, Akira-kun. You have been falsely accused of a crime you didn't commit and as a result, you have been given an undeserved sentence and record. Remember that you are part of the Shadow Operatives and I will not simply ignore it when one of us is in trouble. Also, Yu-kun and Naoto-kun are still looking into the case without telling you because they know you would just tell them to stop."

The raven sighed a soft smile at her words, touched.

The Shadow OperatIves and Investigation Team are truly his family.

But he will gain another one during this year.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personas can appear in the real world but they can only be seen by other Persona-users or people who have been in a supernatural realm such as the Metaverse and TV World (not counting the Dark Hour because it erases people's memories). They can only be seen by everybody and be combat-ready if they are physically summoned (through the use of the Evoker) in the real world.
> 
> Mitsuru pretty much acts as one of the Shadow Operatives' "Mothers" (The other being Fuuka).


	4. Metaverse Navigation

Once again, the rattling of chains woke the inmate up.

Akira groaned as he sat up on his bench as he ran a hand through his messed-up hair.

"About time you've come to." He turned to see the same violent girl standing in front of his cell with a smug smirk on her face as she slammed her baton on the cell bars, "On your feet, Inmate!"

"Yeah, yeah." He muttered and it was loud enough for Caroline to hear it to attempt to slam her baton again until her master raised his hand which commanded to halt.

However, just as Akira stood up, he felt a new presence in his cell and he turned around and was shocked to see Arsene sitting on the bench at the end of the cell. He was handcuffed and his leg is chained just like Akira but his appearance remains the same.

"...Huh? Akira?" Arsene looked around and his fiery red eyes widened in surprise, "Is this...? Wait, how come I'm in the cell instead of your mind?"

In response, Akira turned to Igor, who still wearing that non-changing grin on his face.

"There is no need to worry." He replied with his disturbing voice, "I merely put your initial Persona there just so you could have a companion in your lonely cell. It is not quite a relief that your partner is physically there with you instead being in your mind?"

"Well, yeah, of course." The inmate turned to his partner, worried, "How're you feeling?"

"Aside from the fact that I can't feel my powers, I'm the same as always." Arsene replied.

Before Akira could ask further, Igor's booming voice interrupts him.

"I would also like to introduce you to Caroline and Justine's new assistants." He said with his hand waving, gesturing to the two new presences to come into the two inmates' view.

One of them looked like an Indian dancer with most of her clothing being in the color of pink. She had long pink hair with two buns styled on each side of her head that is supported by her crown-like headdress. She appears to be as calm as Justine with her eyes closed. The other looked just as aggressive as Caroline. She had blue skin, four arms, a third eye, matted hair, carrying a trident and a sword. Her attire is similar to that of a Hindu deity.

"My name is Parvati." She introduced herself with a bow while gracefully pulling up the sides of her long pink fabric, "It is my pleasure to be overlooking your rehabilitation."

"I am Shiva." The blue one introduced herself next by spinning her spear and stabbing it to the ground, "Make sure to not waste our time overlooking you because of your incompetence!"

Akira and Arsene sweatdropped, " _They're just like the twins!"_

"Back to the matter at hand..." Justine spoke up, "Our master wishes to speak with you. It's for your own sake that you take his words to heart."

_"Pretty sure he's just gonna say things that make no sense."_

"First off, let us celebrate our reunion." Igor said, "Ah... it has been years since you have awakened your power. I must say, this is quite unexpected. Your strength is stronger than I originally thought. You are long ready to finally begin your rehabilitation."

"Rehabilitation?"

"There is no need to understand it all for the time being." The long-nosed man replied, "You will continue to train the power of Persona, which you have awakened to a long time ago."

_"He probably knows everything about me, huh..."_

"I am sure there is no need for me to explain it all to you. After all, you already have deep knowledge regarding Personas and Shadows. However, remember that Personas are the "mask" of your heart." His grin widened, "I have high expectations for you."

Akira raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"There is no need to worry. You will learn when the time comes."

 _"That old man is terrible at explanations..."_ Arsene thought to his user as he remained occupied on his bench.

 _"No kidding..."_  Akira agreed.

"By the by... have you come to appreciate the Metaverse Navigator?"

The mention of those words caused Akira to increase his interest in the new topic, "Is that the name of that strange app?"

Igor nodded, "Indeed. Using it will allow you to come and go between reality and Palaces.

"Palaces...?" Akira repeated.

"Are you referring to that castle?" Arsene asked.

However, the mysterious man did not answer Arsene's question and just continued talking, "I bestowed it to you as a means to train you as a thief."

Before Akira could ask what Igor meant by that, Caroline beat him to it.

"The Metaverse Navigator is a gift from our master!" Caroline said, "You better take care in using it, Inmate!"

"Do not use it for foolishness!" Shiva exclaimed.

Justine turned to her inmate with that still calm expression on her face, "Devote yourself to your training so that you may become a fine thief."

Parvati smiled serenely with her eyes still closed, "I look forward in seeing how your training will bear fruit."

"It must be disheartening to make use of the Metaverse Navigator alone." Igor said, "Should there be others who would prove beneficial to you, I will grant it to them as well. This is all for you to grow as a most excellent thief."

"Hmph, it's time. Go back and enjoy whatever rest you might have." Caroline said in a mocking tone.

Both Akira and Arsene's vision began darkening and blurry and a sudden wave of sleepiness overtook them.

Before Akira blacked out, he couldn't help but wonder one thing.

Didn't Yu and Aigis said that Igor had a high-pitched voice...?

* * *

_"The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such."_

Akira stared aimlessly for a bit while sitting on the bed, remembering Igor's words during his first visit. That room only reminded him of what happened in the past.

"The state of my heart is  _still_  a prison...?"

"Strange... I thought that we have already dealt with your issues 4 years ago." Arsene said, sitting right next to him, "I am you, yet I can't find the reason for the state of your heart."

Akira sighed and stood up, "...Whatever. More importantly... I need to hurry and get ready for school."

"Yeah. Being late for hours on your first day of school isn't a good start." The thief Persona commented.

* * *

Akira got out of the cafe and flipped the sign to "Open" and took out his umbrella as he walked towards the station.

 _"The rain is a bad sign during that time with the murders, right?"_  Arsene asked.

 _"Yeah, almost every time the fog appears a new victim gets thrown into the TV."_  Akira replied.

Unfortunately, once Akira reached the train many people are already swarming inside, thus he couldn't find a seat and was forced to stand near the doorway. He barely managed to breathe with all the people packed like sardines.

"What was the conductor thinking, charging into the station at top speed like that?" The raven heard some students from his school gossiping.

"Didn't you hear? The guy totally lost it."

"It's been happening a lot lately."

"All these accidents are because people are suddenly losing their minds, right?"

"Well, between the economy sucking and how depressing the news always is, it's not all that surprising."

 _"It's that case where Yu-san and Naoto-san are assigned to investigate, right?"_  Arsene asked.

_"Yeah. The mental shutdown cases."_

* * *

Akira managed to get to school on time and halted in front of the school gate.

 _"How did we use that Navigation app in the first place?"_  Akira thought.

 _"Don't ask me."_  Arsene replied.

* * *

"I'm the social studies teacher Mr. Ushimaru. I'll be teaching you the rules of society this year." The stern glasses-wearing man said as he began teaching the class.

To be honest, Akira preferred his previous teachers back in Yasogami High School and the weird ones in Gekkoukan High School, especially Mr. Edogawa and Mr. Ono, when he visited Tatsumi Port Island more than a few times during the past four years. Akira especially liked Mr. Edogawa's lessons regarding the histories of different magical traditions when he visited Gekkoukan and even attended some of his lessons despite not being his student (it's because he got Mitsuru's permission).

Once the boring lecture is over and it is now after school, Akira walked out of the classroom, apparently used to the rumors.

"Hey there, Takamaki!"

He stopped once he heard a familiar voice near the stairs.

Kamoshida approached the blonde girl with a seemingly friendly smile on his face, "You looking for a ride home? Things have been pretty dangerous lately with all those accidents."

Takamaki looked like she wanted to run, "Sorry, I have a photoshoot today. It's for the special summer issue, so I can't afford to miss it..."

Kamoshida became disappointed, "Hey, now... Being a model's fine and dandy, but don't work your pretty little self to the bone. You mentioned you weren't feeling well, right? Something about appendicitis?"

Akira raised an eyebrow. Isn't appendicitis a serious illness?

"Yes. I keep planning to go to the hospital, but I've been too busy... Sorry to worry you." Takamaki excused.

"You must be lonely, too. I feel bad for keeping your best friend at practice so often." Kamoshida said, "That's why I asked you out in the first place. Oh, and... be careful around that transfer student. He's got a criminal record, after all. If something were to happen to you..."

 _"Hey, I'm right here, asshole!"_  Akira tempted to shout but obviously refrained from doing so.

"...Thank you." Takamaki replied, her face still expressed discomfort around his presence, "Please excuse me."

Kamoshida scowled as he watched the blonde beauty walked away, "Tch."

 _"Akira, that's it. That man is obviously a leech hitting on younger girls. Use your Evoker so I can make him regret it in fear."_  Arsene said in irritation.

 _"As much as I wanted to do it. You know that we can't..."_  Akira sighed as he walked towards the exit, worried about his blonde classmate.

"Yo."

Akira turned around to see the blonde delinquent waving at him near the school gate as he walked towards him, "What's up?"

"I wanna talk about that castle." Ryuji said, "Even after everything you said, I keep telling myself that it was all just a dream but I couldn't. That big guy with the wings... Arsene, right? Where is he?"

"I'm right here." Arsene manifested himself besides Akira, scaring Ryuji once again.

"Wah!" Ryuji recoiled, "Dude! DON'T do that! Where'd you come from anyway!?"

"I'm always with Akira." Arsene answered, "The reason you didn't see me earlier was because I was in his mind."

"What? Does that mean you talk to each other in your mind or something?" Ryuji turned to Akira for confirmation, which the latter nodded. The blonde looked over at the passing students exiting the school building, apparently not noticing the large winged being right next to Akira.

"Whoa, people really can't see you."

"The reason you could see me is because you saw me get summoned in that castle." Arsene said.

Ryuji stayed silent for a minute before speaking, "...I want to go back to that castle."

"Like I asked yesterday, why?" Arsene asked.

"I can't just sit still and do nothing when it's connected to that bastard Kamoshida!" Ryuji exclaimed, "You're the only one I can rely on. I can't do this without you."

"Don't worry, I plan on going back to that castle anyway." Akira replied as he adjusted his bag.

"Really?" Ryuji brightened up, "Why do you wanna go back there?"

"An investigation." Akira told him, "I want to know why a place like that exists."

"I see."The blonde nodded, "Then, let's just retrace our steps and—"

"No need." Arsene interrupted while crossing his arms, "I think we know how to get there."

"Really? Then let's go!" Ryuji exclaimed.

"Wait." Akira held his hand up, "Before we do. Remember that you don't have any means in defending yourself from Shadows."

"You mean those knights that get turned into monsters, right?" Ryuji asked.

Akira nodded, "Yeah. Make sure to stay close to us and not wander off, all right?"

Ryuji nodded firmly, "Sure."

Akira took out his phone and held it for Ryuji to see.

"What's this eyeball-lookin' thing?" Ryuji asked.

"It's called the Metaverse Navigator." Akira said and refrained from telling him the real reason he got it, "It just appeared on my phone and I can't delete."

"Man, that's creepy." Ryuji looked over the app, "What a weird app..."

Arsene remained observant on the phone and noticed something, "Akira, there's a search history."

Akira's eyes widened as he pressed his thumb on the history icon and sure enough, there are certain words that were recorded by the app.

 **"Kamoshida... Shujin Academy... Pervert... Castle..."**  The navigator spoke with that same robotic female voice,  **"Beginning Navigation."**

Suddenly, everything was tainted in red and the phone's screen was taken over by the red eye, glitching disturbingly.

"What the hell!?"

Black and red ripples clouded their vision as it soon changes the scenery around them into the place they accidentally stumbled in before.

"Look! It's the castle from yesterday!" The two teenagers and Persona approached the castle door, "We made it back..." He said as he turned to Akira, only to be surprised once he sees him in a different outfit on, "Yeargh! Those clothes...!"

"That happened last time too, huh!? What's with that outfit!?" Ryuji asked incredulously.

"Not bad, huh?" Akira asked while smiling.

"You LIKE it!?" Ryuji exclaimed.

"Are you jealous?" Arsene asked.

"N-no, I-I'm not jealous!" Ryuji stuttered, "What's goin' on here!? This makes no effin' sense at all..."

"Hey!"

The two and Persona turned around and noticed the same cartoonish cat-looking creature that aided them last time.

Morgana ran towards them, "Stop making a commotion."

"Ah... You!?"

Much to Ryuji's surprise, another being manifested right beside Morgana. Zorro bowed to Arsene, "Hello again, Señor Arsene."

Arsene politely returned the gesture, "It's nice to see you again, Zorro-san."

"The Shadows started acting up, I came here wondering what it could be..." Morgana said, "...To think you guys would come back to the entrance when you barely managed to escape."

"What is this place? ...Is it the school?" Ryuji asked.

"That's right." Morgana nodded.

"But it's a castle!" Ryuji argued.

"This castle IS the school." Morgana countered, "But only to this castle's ruler."

"The castle's ruler?" Ryuji questioned.

"I think you called him Kamoshida?" Morgana asked and Akira nodded in confirmation, "It's how his distorted heart views the school."

"Oh, I see..." Akira adopted a thinking stance, "So this is basically how he sees the school, huh?"

 _"It's very similar to the TV World."_  Arsene said in his mind with Akira mentally nodded in agreement.

"Kamoshida... Distorted...?" Ryuji absentmindedly repeated, "Explain it in a way that makes sense!"

"I shouldn't have expected a moron to get it..." Morgana muttered in disappointment.

"What'd you say!?"

Akira was about to explain about Morgana's statement but he was cut off when an agonizing scream echoed throughout the area.

"What was that!?" Ryuji asked frantically.

"It must be the slaves captive here."

"For real!?" They all heard another scream, "Oh, shit... It's for real! We saw other guys held captive here yesterday... I'm pretty sure they're from our school."

Akira widened his eyes at the sudden realization. Come to think of it, the slaves that he once saw when he escaped was wearing a PE uniform of Shujin Academy. He had forgotten about it due to constantly thinking about other matters now.

"Most likely on Kamoshida's orders. It's nothing out of the ordinary; it's like that every day here. What's more, you two escaped yesterday. He must have lost his temper quite a bit." Morgana said.

"That son of a bitch...!" Ryuji cursed.

Akira and Morgana (including their Personas) turned worriedly at the blonde, "Ryuji...?"

"...This is bullshit!" Ryuji suddenly rammed towards the door and yelled angrily, "You hear me, Kamoshida!?"

"Doing that isn't going to open it, you know..." Arsene told him.

"Still, it seems you have your reasons." Zorro said.

Ryuji then approached Morgana, "Hey, Monamona!"

"It's Morgana!" The feline retorted.

"Do you know where those voices are comin' from?"

"You want me to take you to them?" Morgana asked skeptically before turning to Akira, "...Well, I guess I could guide you there. But only if he comes with us."

Akira nodded in agreement, "Let's go."

"Plus, we have a lot of questions for you." Arsene added.

Morgana hopped happily, "It's settled then! Whatever questions you have right now, I'll answer them later."

"For real...!?" Ryuji grinned before turning gratefully to Akira, "...Thanks, man."

"All right, let's do this. Follow me!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> • Caroline and Justine's Personas, Parvati and Shiva, are inspired from the Persona 5 Arena fantendo wikia page that I found by coincidence. As Lavenza, her Persona is the fused form of Parvati and Shiva, Ardha.
> 
> • In this story, Shiva has a female version, similar to how Orpheus had a female version. Think of this story's Shiva having a similar appearance of the ones in Final Fantasy.
> 
> • Since I was inspired by that Persona 5 Arena page, I'm thinking of having Mishima, Sojiro and Sae have a Persona. If you want to know who their Personas are and their battle styles, just check the Persona 5 Arena page.
> 
> • In this story, Akira's Velvet Room isn't a prison. "Igor" just remodeled it to remind Akira of his past, to make him think that he is still a "prisoner" in his heart.


	5. The Bad Boy Awakens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> • A little hint of Akira's character in this chapter.
> 
> • This chapter is a little brutal.
> 
> • This chapter's name is based on the walkthrough of Persona 5 played by the YouTuber, Jay from the Kubz Scouts (which is my most favorite channels).
> 
> • Jay from the Kubz Scouts is THAT DUDE.
> 
> • Also, I ain't good at writing fight scenes.

They followed Morgana inside the castle and they went back to the dungeon they once escaped from. The feline had taught Akira how to ambush the masked Shadows by forcefully ripping off their masks, it reminded Akira when he first awakened Arsene and remembered the hellish pain that he experienced when he ripped off his mask from his skin. This is way better than just simply attacking the Shadow, which everyone (by everyone, you know who) always does. He and Arsene could feel Morgana, Zorro and Ryuji shudder when they witness them brutally finishing off the Shadows that he ambushed (By beheading it with Akira's dagger and Arsene's bladed heels).

"...Um, Akira? Was that really necessary...?" A wide-eyed Morgana asked, a hint of fear is clearly shown on his face.

"We... could have just finished them off with Eiha and Garu..." Zorro's expression is a mix of both fear and worry, the tone of his deep voice is the same as his user.

"It's better if we conserve the stamina we use for our spells." Akira replied with his back turned on them, watching the remains of the Shadow disintegrate into nothingness.

Arsene suddenly let out a slight chuckle and said something that sent chills down the other three's spines, "The expressions on their faces were priceless."

Akira then turned to face them, ready to proceed.

However, they were freaking out on the inside when they saw the smile on Akira's face.

He looked like a child who was done playing with his favorite toy.

"...Holy shit..." Was Ryuji's only comment.

They made a mental note to never mess with the two of them.

* * *

Unfortunately, thanks to the loud volume of Ryuji's mouth when asking a bunch of questions, they were spotted by a patrolling knight and the scene became pretty much as one could easily guess. They were being chased by a bunch of knights and Akira had to pretty much drag Ryuji to make him catch up with them due to their heightened physical capabilities. Though, ever since Akira met Ryuji, he had noticed that the blonde was slightly limping every time he walked and he could also see the pain on his face whenever they ran, maybe he had a bad leg or something.

They proceeded to turn to a corner and found a door which Morgana says that it leads to a "Safe Room"... probably.

Akira immediately slammed the door shut as Ryuji catches his breath while Morgana hops onto the table.

"The Shadows probably won't come in here." The feline said as Zorro materialized along with Arsene, who stood right next to his user.

" _*gasp* *pant*_  How can you tell?" Ryuji asks worriedly.

"There's a lack of distortion here, meaning the ruler's control over this area is weak." Morgana explained.

Suddenly, their visions went blurry and for a moment, they saw Shujin's classroom.

Ryuji widened his eyes "Is this a classroom...!?"

"Now do you understand?" Morgana questioned, "This place is another reality that the ruler's heart projects."

Akira adopted a serious thinking stance, "I see..."

Ryuji turned to his friend with a raised eyebrow, "Huh?"

"So basically, this place is how Kamoshida thinks of the school, right?" He turned to Morgana, who nodded.

"WHAT!?" Ryuji was flabbergasted.

"The locations around this place reflects on what he thinks about it." Arsene said, crossing his arms.

Akira continued, "Since the classroom is like this, it could be because Kamoshida has the least influence of it due to being a PE Teacher, as such doesn't think much of the classroom other than some sort of storage room."

"That's right! I call such a place a 'Palace'." Morgana hopped, looking at him proudly, "You're strong and sharp, unlike Blondie over here."

"I said my name's Ryuji!" Ryuji retorted before scratching his head, "So, it became like this 'cause he just thought of it like that!? Hahaha..." He then stomped in anger, "That son of a bitch!"

"You must really hate this Kamoshida guy." Morgana commented.

"Hate doesn't even cover how I feel." Ryuji replied, his voice low before the volume went high again, "Everything is that asshole's fault!"

Akira and Arsene turned to each other worriedly, wondering what Kamoshida did to Ryuji.

"I don't know what happened between you two, but don't let your emotions get the better of you." Morgana warned, "His lackeys are everywhere inside."

"Also, I've been meaning to ask." Ryuji then pointed at Akira's thief clothing, "I'm curious as hell about his outfit. Why does it change, anyway?"

"That's also because of this world." Morgana answered.

"More stuff that makes no sense..." Ryuji sighed in exasperation.

"Anything distorts according to how a ruler pleases within his Palace." Morgana explained, "A school can turn into a castle like this, after all." He continued, "In order to prevent such distortions, one must hold a powerful will of rebellion."

"Uh..." Ryuji had no freaking idea what Morgana just explained to him, much to the feline's disappointment.

Akira decided to simplify it for him, "Basically, this is what I think of a rebel looks like."

"You see yourself like some thief or something like that?" Ryuji asks.

"Well, I do have an interest in Phantom Thievery ever since I read Arsene's novel." Akira playfully nudged his Persona, who chuckled in delight due to the fact that novel is Akira's most favorite book.

Morgana and Zorro smiled at seeing the close bond Akira and Arsene have until Ryuji ruined the warm moment by asking another question.

"I'm more curious about you than his clothes." Ryuji said, crossing his arms in suspicion, "What the hell are you anyways!?"

"I'm a human—an honest—to—god human!" Morgana answered rather loudly.

"No, you're obviously more like a cat!" The blonde retorted.

"This is, well..." Morgana turned away, looking a bit unsure, "It's because I lost my true form... I think."

Ryuji raised an eyebrow, "You think?"

"But I do know how to regain my try form." Morgana turned back to face them, "The reason why I snuck in here was for a preliminary investigation of those means." Morgana turned away again, this time he looked a bit embarrassed, 'Well, I ended up getting caught though..."

 _"So, it's possible for someone to lose their form because of the distortions..."_  Akira thought.

Morgana continued talking, which snaps Akira out of his thoughts, "Besides, I've been tortured by Kamoshida too! I'm gonna make him pay for sure!"

"Indeed." Zorro readied his sword.

"What is this, a comic book? This is seriously crazy..." Ryuji muttered.

"If we're gonna keep going, we should hurry along." Morgana said as he turned to Akira, "I'll be counting on your skills this time, too. You'll be a great help."

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna force it all on you. I thought it might help, so..." Ryuji grinned and then took out something from his pocket, surprising Akira once he saw that it was a gun, not a real one though, "I brought this just in case! It's a model gun though, so it only makes sounds!"

Akira raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, which indicated that the blonde was in for a scolding, "...And you brought that to school?"

Arsene then facepalmed, "All the while knowing it was against the rules and you might've been in huge trouble?"

"Er..." Ryuji had trouble coming up with an excuse.

"That's a toy!" Morgana said.

"But it looks totally real, so it'll at least fake 'em out." Ryuji replied.

"Actually, there's no need." Akira told him, gaining their attention, he took something out from his coat and surprised them when he took out a real handgun, "I have this and it's real."

"Dude, what!?" Ryuji exclaimed, backing away a bit from the dangerous weapon, "And  _you_ brought  _that_  to school!?"

"Technically, no." Akira replied nonchalantly, "Once I equip something while in this getup, it disappears along with my outfit."

"Huh." Ryuji put his hands in his pockets, "I was wonderin' where you keep that dagger with you when I saw you in your normal clothes. Plus, I brought some medicine too. You know what they say: 'Providin' is pre...something.'"

"'Preventing.'" Akira corrected him.

"So you were planning this from the start..." Zorro said, a bit worried.

"Well, fine. If you're ready to go, we'll resume our infiltration." Morgana said before dismissing their meeting and went out of the Safe Room.

Turns out, the toy gun is actually useful. Morgana explained that as long that their opponent sees it as real, it becomes real. He wondered about Morgana's slingshot but the cat brushed it off.

* * *

Okay, the All-Out Attacks that they just did is WAY better than what he and the others always did. They were like fast blurs when they went All-Out on the Shadow and the way he adjusted his blood-colored glove and smirked as he said  **"The Show's Over"**  is so cool on so many levels.

He sort of wished Ken-senpai was here to see this. He would've loved to join in.

* * *

Eventually, they reached to some sick place called "Training Hall of Love". They came across a hall with bars that allowed them to see what was going on the other side and it answered where the pained voices are coming from. They came near they all saw a few slaves wearing the PE uniform tied to the volleyball net while the knights vent out their frustration by hitting them vigorously on their back with their weapons.

Arsene watched the scene from Akira's mind through the latter's eyes and let out a growl of disgust which everyone heard, "Now we know what he's truly like inside his head."

"Dammit! This is bullshit." Thankfully and ironically, his loud voice was completely covered by the screams of the slaves.

"How many times do I have to tell you to keep your voice down!?" Morgana harshly whispered.

Ryuji took a good look at the place they're in and scowled angrily, "But this is beyond messed up!" He scratched his head in frustration and turned at the cell door, "How do I open this...?"

"Huh?" Akira noticed Ryuji's action and looked back at the slaves,  _"Oh, right. He doesn't realized it yet."_

Akira was about to tell him something but they heard someone call out to them.

"Stop it...!"

One of the slaves walked towards them while clutching his arm in pain. They all felt a pang of pity and anger when they saw how much he's bandaged.

"Leave us alone... It's useless..." The slave weakly said.

"Huh!?"

Another slave approached them, he's at the same painful state as the first one, "If we stay obedient, we won't be executed like you guys!"

Ryuji gripped at the bars, "You're tellin' me you wanna stay in a place like this!?"

"Wait a minute..." Morgana interrupted, "Were you planning on taking these guys out of here?"

"We can't just leave 'em here!" Ryuji retorted.

"Ryuji, calm down." Akira placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder, "They're not real."

"What!?" Ryuji turned to him, wide-eyed.

Akira removed his hand and gestured at the slaves. He decided to simplify it to him because he knew Morgana's explanations can be complicated, "They're just like the castle. They're part of what Kamoshida thinks of them."

"To that asshole, these students are his slaves." Arsene added, his next tone had a hint of guilt in them, "...It also means there's no point in saving them."

Ryuji let out a growl and crossed his arms, "So the school's a castle, and the students are slaves... It's so on point that it makes me laugh. This really is the inside of that asshole's head!"

Morgana then hopped off the crate he was standing on and approached the slaves with a look of pity, "Still, this is horrible. It must mean he treats them as slaves in the real world too."

"In the real world too...?" Ryuji widened his eyes and took a good look at the beaten-up players. A flash of realization hit him which caused him to widened his eyes again, "Wait, I know these guys... They're members of the volleyball team—the one Kamoshida coaches for!"

"Wait a minute." Arsene said before turning to his user, "Wasn't one of your classmates injured? The one with the blue hair?"

"Yeah..." Now that he thought about, that guy was bandaged quite a bit, including his face.

"You mean Mishima?" Ryuji asks the gentleman thief.

"I think so..." Arsene replied, unsure.

"...That means whatever Kamoshida is doing in his head, he does it in real life too." Akira put his hand on his chin, "So this place truly is the manifestation of 'distortion', strong negative and corrupt thoughts that warp the perceptions of people into a hazard for themselves..."

Ryuji stared at him, "Dude... I have no idea what you just said."

Morgana continued to stare at the slaves in pity, "They must be physically abused everyday... There's no way they'd be so beat up normally."

"Come to think of it..." Akira turned to the blonde with a serious expression, "Ryuji, didn't you say that there are rumors circulating around Kamoshida?"

Ryuji nodded, "I heard that Kamoshida's usin' physical punishment. They're just rumors, but... If they're true, wouldn't this be somethin' to report to the police...?

Akira pretty much read Ryuji's mind, "If you're planning to use your phone to take a picture, forget it, it won't work."

"Huh?" Ryuji took out his phone and saw that the entire screen is covered by the same eye that is covering Akira's phone, "You gotta be kidding me! We can use the navigation app, but the camera's a no-go!?"

"A navigation app?" Morgana asks.

"That's what we used to come here." Ryuji replied.

Morgana then hopped in alarm, "Whatever you do is fine, but we're gonna get caught if we stand around like this. We need to head back!"

"Hang on a sec!" Ryuji said as he gripped the cell bars, "There's no other way... I'll just memorize their faces before goin' home!"

* * *

Akira had to fight the urge to vomit while the three (five, if you include the Personas) explored the so-called "training hall". It turns out, the guards beating the shit out of them is just the "training" they have. Another cell in the "training hall" contains volleyball team members that are subjected to running on a treadmill with a spiked rolling pin at the end. The last cell contains a cognitive student being hung upside down and being hit by spiked explosive volleyballs from a cannon. Seriously, if the Shadow Operatives and Investigation Team finds out about this, they would explode and pretty much barge in Shujin (He even imagined Mitsuru and Artemicia "executing" Kamoshida). After Ryuji finished memorizing the players, they proceeded to go back to the exit. Unfortunately, when they got to the castle lobby, they were spotted by that lustful asshole and his guards. The two immediately summoned their Personas in alarm.

The Shadow Kamoshida gave them a baleful glare, "Tch. You knaves again? To think you'd make the same mistake again. You're hopeless!"

"The school ain't your castle!" Ryuji yelled, "I've memorized their faces real good. You're going down!"

Kamoshida smirked, "It seems it's true when they say 'barking dogs seldom bite'. How far the star runner of the track team has fallen."

"The hell are you gettin' at!?"

"I speak of the 'Track Traitor' who acted in violence, ending his teammates' dreams." The asshole smugly said, "Oh, I can only imagine the pain of the others who were dragged under with your... selfish act."

Ryuji visibly flinched and Akira noticed the guilty look on his face.

"...Violence?"

"What a surprise. So you're accompanying him without knowing anything at all?" Kamoshida questioned, "He betrayed his teammates and crushed their hopes, yet he still carries on as carefree as ever."

While Akira didn't know much, he himself knew he hated how Kamoshida worded it.

"That's not true!" Ryuji cried.

"You've come along with this fool and are now going to end up dead." Kamoshida chuckled evilly, "How unlucky of you."

"...Hmph."

Ignoring the white-masked thief's response, Kamoshida took a fees steps back and gestured to his guards, "Go. Kill them all. Don't sully my castle with garbage."

"It was already sullied from the moment you thought of this garbage place." Arsene retorted.

The guards then bursted into bloody red and black liquid, transforming into three Bicorn Shadows. Akira couldn't help but think a disturbing thought about the way they reveal their true form.

 _"It's like body gore..."_  Akira thought.

Both he and Morgana immediately stepped in front of Ryuji.

"Ryuji, move!" Morgana ordered as Zorro readied his sword.

"Goddammit..." Ryuji cursed as he took a step back, feeling a bit useless that he couldn't fight.

* * *

Well, things did NOT go well.

Morgana and Zorro had a bit of a hard time due to the fact that the Bicorns aren't weak to wind and their physical strength is pretty strong. However, they weren't able to hold out much longer and were defeated by the continuous ramming attacks of the Bicorns and were stepped on in defeat.

In the other two's case, Arsene, being the powerful Persona he is, easily dealt with most of the Shadows (albeit brutally), but the enemy took advantage of his distance from Akira and the fact that a Persona can feel the pain of their user. As a result, the golden knight of the group pierced his sword through Akira's left shoulder, then his abdomen, causing him to fall down and cough out blood.

"AKIRA!" Ryuji and Morgana called out in shock and extreme worry.

"Ngh...!" Arsene fell to his knees and clutched his abdomen as pain surged through his entire being.

Another knight took advantage of Arsene's vulnerable state and harshly grabbed his neck and slammed him to the pillar. He wasn't going to let the thief have a slight chance to attack so he began to gripped his neck hard, suffocating the Persona.

"Señor Arsene!" Zorro exclaimed.

"A-Agh...!" Akira began suffocating as well but was unable to writhe in pain as an untransfromed knight stepped on him and blood continued to bleed from his wounds and mouth, creating a pool of red liquid under them.

"Dammit! You piece of—" Morgana was unable to finish his sentence and help his companion as Kamoshida is now the one stepping on him.

"I bet you simply came here on a whim and ended up like this. Isn't that right?" Kamoshida smugly asks.

"No..." Ryuji denied, who fell to his knees.

"What a worthless piece of trash, getting emotional so quickly..." The so-called king mocked, "How dare you raise your hand at me. Though it was only temporary, have you forgotten my kindness in supervising track practice?"

"Wasn't no practice—it was physical abuse!" Ryuji retorted, "You just didn't like our team!"

"It was nothing but an eyesore! The only one who needs to achieve results is me!"

"Fucking egotistical asshole..." Akira muttered under his breath, not like he could increase his volume since he was still having extreme difficulty breathing due to Arsene still being suffocated.

"That coach who got fired was hopeless too..." Kamoshida grumbled, "Had he not opposed me with a sound argument, I would've settled it with only breaking his star's leg."

Akira, even though nearly unconscious, felt his rage erupted to extreme levels.

"...What?" Ryuji widened his eyes at that statement.

"Do you need me to deal with your other leg too?" Kamoshida chuckled, "The school will call it self-defense anyway!"

That asshole principal...

"Dammit... Am I gonna lose again...?" Ryuji hopelessly muttered, "Not only can I not run anymore... the track team is gone too 'cause of this asshole...!"

**(How many times have I written the word asshole...?)**

"So that's why..." Morgana looked sadly at Ryuji.

Kamoshida smirked as he stepped on Morgana further, causing the feline, as well as Zorro, to hiss in pain, "Once these four are dealt with, you're next. Hahahaha...!"

"Ryuji!" Morgana cried.

"So you're just going to let him win...?" Ryuji heard Akira's strained voice. He turned to his severely injured friend and could have sworn he saw his eyes glow red for a second.

"He admitted it himself, Ryuji. He broke your leg, disbanded the track team and acts like the KING OF THE SCHOOL!" Akira shouted despite being extremely painful to do it due to his limited breathing, "Now stand up for yourself and give this fucking piece of shit what he truly deserves!"

He then choked when the knight slammed his foot on him, causing him to cough out more blood and Arsene to breathlessly cry out pain.

Ryuji widened his eyes in shock at his words and gritted his teeth, "...You're right. Everything that was important to me was taken by him... I'll never get 'em back...!"

"Stay there and watch." Kamoshida told him, "Look on as these hopeless scum die for nothing because they sided with trash like you."

The knight that was restraining Akira then held out his sword and pressed the sharp blade on his neck, drawing out a slight bleed from his neck.

"No... That's what you are..." Ryuji stood up, his eyes flaring with rage and determination, "All you think about is using people... You're the real scumbag, Kamoshida!"

"What are you doing!? Stop him!" Kamoshida yelled as Ryuji took a few steps forward and pointed his finger at him.

"Stop lookin' down on me with that stupid smile on your face!"

* * *

**"You made me wait quite a while."**

"A-Aaagh...!"

Ryuji eyes became bloodshot. Pain suddenly overwhelmed him and he clutched both sides of his head with his hands as he fell to his knees.

**"You seek power, correct? Then let us form a pact."**

**"Since your name has been disgraced already, why not hoist the flag and wreak havoc...?"**

**"The 'other you' who exists within desires it thus..."**

Akira's eyes widened as he watched Ryuji (despite his vision being a bit blurry) writhe in pain. Realization flashed through him as he recognize this painful action.

_"He's going to...!"_

**"I am thou, thou art I..."**

Ryuji screamed in agony at the mention of those words, the words which are very familiar to Akira.

**"There is no turning back..."**

**"The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth!"**

A black skull mask materialized on Ryuji's face, whose eyes have glowed golden like the Shadows.

"Hmph. What can you do...?" The knight who is stepping on Akira mocked, raising his blade to deliver the finishing blow, "Cower in fear and watch!"

Determined to save his friend, Ryuji gripped his mask and, after a bit of struggling, ripped it off his face, causing a huge bleed of blood on his face as he screamed in agony, which can be heard throughout the castle, and blue flames that bursted out in an inferno.

Akira smiled serenely as he watched his friend awaken his Persona. The knights that were restraining all of them were blown away and Akira managed to catch his breath the second Arsene was released, however, his wounds are still deep and bleeding. Morgana and Zorro immediately ran up to h and casted Dia. They did it a few more times because once wasn't enough to heal his damaged internal organs.

"Are you okay?" Morgana asks worriedly, helping him stand up as Zorro approached Arsene and did the same gesture.

"Y-Yeah..." Akira coughed, getting up to his knees. He wheezed a bit since he still felt the pain of being impaled. He let his vision focused on Ryuji's Persona and got a good look at their new ally, his smiling widening into a smirk.

_"A skeleton pirate captain riding a boat like a skateboard with a gun arm? That is awesome..."_

The delinquent's shot up, which revealed a smug grin.

"Ugh... This one as well!?" Kamoshida said in shock and dismay.

"Right on... Wassup, Persona..." Ryuji said turning back briefly to his Persona with a grin, which the pirate returned back, "This effin' rocks! Now that I got this power, it's time for payback..."

"Yo, I'm ready..." Ryuji told to his friends, who are know itching for another round, as he cracked his knuckles, "Bring it!"

"Ngh... Don't mock me, you brat!" The golden knight said as transformed into an even larger red knight riding horse that's even bigger than the Bicorns.

"Blast him away... Captain Kidd!"

"I hear ya, lad!" Captain Kidd responded in glee and pointed his right gun arm towards their enemy.

" **ZIO**!"

* * *

The battle ended quickly as Akira predicted it.

From the beginning, the battle was in their favor since Ryuji had the electric element. The red knight summoned a couple of Bicorns but were quickly defeated by Ryuji and Captain Kidd. This gave the other four a chance to directly attack the red knight and allow Ryuji to deal the finishing blow with his metal pipe.

After that, Ryuji put his hand on his knees and wheezed.

" _*gasp* *pant*_  How 'bout that!?" Ryuji exclaimed.

 _"He's at his limit already..."_  Akira thought as he glanced at his friend worriedly.

"Whoa... So Ryuji had the potential too..." A wide-eyed Morgana said in surprise, apparently not expecting the idiot to have a potential to summon a Persona.

"It's just as you said. It's the will of rebellion." Arsene told the not-cat.

"Even if you apologize now... I ain't forgivin' you...!"

"I told you that this is my castle. It seems you still don't understand..." Kamoshida said, not caring about the fallen guard beside him.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, a new person approached the scene, shocking the thieves and their Personas.

 _"What in the fuck...?"_  Akira thought as he recognized the girl well.

So did Ryuji, "Wh—Takamaki!?"

"Oh...!" Morgana suddenly perked up, "What... What a meow-velous and beautiful girl...!"

 _"Not him too...!"_  Akira and Arsene cringed at his cat pun. They thought that Teddie's bear puns were enough.

 _"Maybe he really is the same as Teddie..."_ Arsene told his user.

 _"Yeah, it's a high possibility considering that he lost his memories as well as his claimed human form..."_  Akira agreed.

"What's going on...!?" Ryuji was shock to see the natural-blonde teenager wearing nothing but underwear as well as a headband with cat ears.

"Don't worry, she's just like the slaves." Akira told him because he knew there's no way that the Takamaki from the real world would be able to come here. The frizzy-haired boy glanced back at the two residents of the castle and cringed when he saw the cognitive Takamaki cuddling to the Shadow Kamoshida, "This is freaking gross..."

"I agree." Arsene nodded.

"Hey, let go of her, you perv!" Ryuji shouted. Even if it's a cognitive person, he couldn't help but feel really agitated when he saw how he thinks of the blonde girl.

"How many times must I tell you until you understand?" Kamoshida told him, "This is MY castle—a place in which I can do whatever I want. Everyone wishes to be loved by me... That is, everyone besides slow-witted thieves like you."

"Arr... What a scumbag!" Captain Kidd said.

"Are you jealous?" Kamoshida smirked, "Well, I'm not surprised. Women aren't drawn to problematic punks like you."

"Dammit...!" Ryuji cursed.

"Clean them up this instant!" Kamoshida commanded as more knights suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"We're outnumbered... Let's scram before we get surrounded!" Morgana exclaimed.

"We're not gonna do anything and just run!?" Ryuji cried.

"Aye! I'm gonna make him walk the plank!" Captain Kidd agreed with Ryuji.

"Just shut up and go!" Akira ordered, surprising the delinquent at his sudden change of demeanor, "We can't  **die**  here!"

Mentally, the white-masked thief stiffened at his own words.

_"...Die..."_

Being his Persona, Arsene did not let his thought go unnoticed and immediately placed his hand on his shoulder, freeing him from the thoughts that were about to be dreadful.

The others didn't notice the meaning behind this action and just agreed to flee.

"Ngh... Fine." Ryuji finally relented before yelling at the Shadow of the person who ruined his life, "We'll expose what you really are, no matter what! You better be ready for us...!"

Kamoshida laughed arrogantly, "Hahaha! I was beginning to get bored of torturing the ones here! Come at me whenever you want, if you don't care about your life! Hahahahahahaha!"

* * *

" _*pant* *gasp* *pant*_  Anyways!" Ryuji got up from his knees, "I don't remember changing into this?"

Akira took a good look at him, "You see yourself as some gangster from a biker gang?"

"Say what?"

"I can totally see it." Arsene agreed as he materialized while observing Ryuji's rebellious outfit.

"Did you find them!?"

"Quiet!" Morgana hushed them.

All of them were forced to shut up when they heard the shouting of the guards in the castle.

"No. Search that way!"

"So what's goin' on?" Ryuji asked, "I'm completely lost, man...!"

"Basically, you just awakened to a cool pirate captain riding a boat like a skateboard and smashed the fuck outta those Shadows' faces with your metal pipe. So now, Kamoshida is pissed as hell and is surely going to behead us the next time we stepped forth in there." Akira quipped with a poker face.

"Is this... a skull?" Ryuji questioned, grasping on his mask.

"Your appearance reflects your inner self. It's the rebel that slumbers within..." Morgana said before muttering, "...Not that you'll get it."

"Nope..." Ryuji didn't even bother retorting this time.

"Then stop asking questions and accept what you see for what it is."

"Easy for you to say."

"Try summoning Captain Kidd." Akira suggests.

"Huh?" Absentmindedly, Ryuji grasped his mask again and blue flames suddenly enveloped it, soon turning into the skeletal pirate a second later.

"Ahoy, mateys!" Captain Kidd greeted them cheerfully.

"Whoa!" Ryuji took a step back, "You're—!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain Kidd. My name is Arsene." The thief Person addressed him with a polite bow.

"I as well. I am Zorro." The buff Persona did the same.

"Good to meet ya, lads!" Kidd loudly greeted back.

"Shh!" Morgana and Akira hushed him when they heard metallic footsteps nearby.

Suddenly, Ryuji realized something and gasped, "Wait, we're in deep shit!"

"I said to be quiet!" Morgana harshly whispered, "They're nearby...!"

Heeding Morgana's warning, Ryuji whispered, "We might've gotten away here, but we're still screwed with Kamoshida at the real school..."

"That's quite sharp of you! ...For being an idiot."

Ignoring Morgana's insult, Akira assured his friend, "Don't worry, he wouldn't know. After all, that's just his Shadow, not the real Kamoshida. Remember how he didn't mention anything about the execution?"

"Oh yeah!" Ryuji remembered back when they encountered Kamoshida at school.

"A Shadow is the true self that is suppressed—a side of one's personality they don't want to see." Morgana proceeded to explain.

At that statement, Akira and Arsene went silent.

Ryuji didn't even care about the explanation, "All right! Now that we know that, all we gotta do is—"

"Wait, I guided you as promised. It's your turn to cooperate with me." Morgana said, "That's why I was super nice about teaching you idiot everything." The feline turned to Akira, "Not you. You're experienced in dealing with Shadows and even figured out what this place is from just a few words. I actually have a few questions for you."

"Huh? Cooperate?" Ryuji questioned.

"Don't you remember? I originally came here for an investigation. I need to erase the distortion from my body and regain my real form!" Morgana said, "That's why we must delve deep into Mementos and—"

"Hold up, Morgana. Even if we never said anything about helping you out, I promise I'll help you as thanks for helping us." Akira told him.

"However, it's better if we continue the investigation on another day." Arsene said.

"Huh? Why?" Morgana turned to the thief Persona.

"Take a good look of the state we're all in right now." Akira said, "Ryuji just awakened Captain Kidd so he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer and we just got our asses handed back to us and have little to no stamina to use for our spells. We need to recover first, going back would be  **suicide**."

Arsene turned to Akira at the mention of that last word, closely observing him.

This action did not go unnoticed by Zorro, who chose to stay silent.

Morgana smiled in satisfaction, "...All right. Let's recover first before we go back."

"Thanks, Morgana." Akira smiled warmly at the cartoonish cat and fondly petted his head. The feline seemed to be struggling a bit before purring in delight at the petting, much to everyone's amusement.

Once they left, Morgana and Zorro stared at the space where they exited.

 _"Maybe we should go to the real world..."_ Morgana thought.

"That would be a great idea." Zorro agreed.

* * *

**"You have returned to the real world. Welcome back."**

The navigator's female robotic voice were the first sounds that the two teenager's heard once they for back to reality.

"...Thank god. We're back." Ryuji panted exhaustedly and looked at Akira apologetically, "I dragged you around a lot, huh? ...Sorry, man."

"Don't worry about it." Akira replied.

"Ugh, I'm dead tired... How you holdin' up?" The fake blonde asked him.

"Oh, I'm—" Suddenly, Akira winced clutched his left abdomen, it seems that pain has yet to completely subside.

"Whoa, dude! You OK!?" Ryuji asked almost frantically.

"Yeah, it's nothing. Just a little tired is all." Akira assured him.

Of course, Ryuji didn't believe him, as he remembered how his friend got impaled in the shoulder and abdomen.

Akira noticed his worried expression and sighed, "No, seriously it's fine. The pain will go away once I sleep."

Good, that statement seemed to relieve him a bit.

 _"So this is the modern world, I must say this is interesting."_  A voice suddenly said inside of Ryuji's heard and Akira heard it.

"Whoa! Who said that!?" Ryuji asked almost frantically looking for the source of the voice.

 _"*sigh* It's me, lad. Did you seriously forgot about me?"_  The telepathic voice of pirate captain echoed to the two teenagers.

"Captain Kidd!? Are you in my head!?"

"Yep. I can get out if I want to." Kidd said as he manifested above Ryuji.

"Holy shit..." The fake blonde said in awe.

Akira chuckled in amusement, "Personas can stay in our minds so we won't get distracted with what we're doing."

"Huh? Why?" Ryuji asks.

"Imagine you're in a classroom listening to the teacher while you can see Captain Kidd hovering right next to you."

"Good point."

They both looked at Captain Kidd and Arsene (who manifested while they were talking) talking to each other as the former kept pointing at things he doesn't know (such as the cars driving through the street) and the latter, due to being more knowledgeable about modern society, had to teach him about it.

"Y'know, I think I might get used to this." Ryuji grinned, happy at the company, "But damn, if what we saw was for real, this is gonna get good! I totally remember the faces of the guys Kamoshida was treatin' like slaves. Once we make 'em fess up to any physical abuse, Kamoshida will be done." Ryuji hesitated for a moment before scratching the back of his neck, "...I know I'm already asking a lot from you but can ya help me look for those guys or any witnesses?"

Akira smiled and agreed without hesitation, "Sure, I'll help."

Ryuji brightened up, "Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"

The frizzy-haired teenager nodded, "Also, there's no point in me trying to lay low since everyone already knows my record before I even got to school."

The delinquent looked at him sadly, "Yeah... They totally got you pegged as a criminal."

"I'm still wondering how'd that happen..." Akira said as he thought about it.

"Kamoshida opened his damn mouth!"

Akira reminded himself of that bastard's true self, "...He's probably afraid that having a new student might steal the attention of his audience." He theorized, "So he decided to spread the news of my record to get the people have a negative view of me so that they'd stay away from me and his popularity wouldn't decrease."

"No one else besides a teacher could've leaked it that fast!" Ryuji scowled, "It doesn't matter if it's a student or a club; that asshole just wrecks things he doesn't agree with. Just like he did with me...!"

_"I'm hating this Kamoshida more and more now..."_

"No one'll take anything I say seriously. Still, those rumors about him gettin' physical might be real." Ryuji said, "And after seein' Kamoshida's distorted-heart thing in person, there's no way I can just sit back!"

"Of course." Akira nodded.

"I'm countin' on you! Don't worry; I'm hyped about this too!"

Suddenly, time froze and a young female voice echoed within Akira's head.

**I am thou, thou art I...**

**Thou hast acquired a new vow.**

**It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.**

**With the birth of the Chariot Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power...**

"...?"

 _"Whose voice was that?"_  Arsene asked his user in his mind, since he was still on a conversation with Kidd.

_"Don't know. Wait... could this be the Social Links that Yu-san mentioned...?"_

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a stomach rumble coming from Ryuji.

"Oh... right. I haven't eaten anything since lunch." Ryuji muttered, "It'd be weird splittin' off now, so why don't we grab a bite somewhere?"

"Arr!" Kidd perked up, "I'd like to have some grub from this time!"

"Er, Kidd-san. We can't eat." Arsene told him, "But we can taste what they eat."

"Sure." Akira nodded, "I'm feeling a bit hungry myself."

The blonde grinned, "Just follow me. I mean, I totally gotta hear about your past!" He said as picked up his school bag and the two and their Personas went off to a restaurant, with Arsene being hounded by a barrage of questions by Kidd along the way.

* * *

"WHAT!?" Ryuji looked up from his bowl, "The hell, man! How much shittier can that asshole get!?"

"Dude, chill with the curse words, I'm still eating. Also, calm down because we're disturbing a few customers." Akira told him and the blonde looked around, seeing that there were a few stares on their way.

"S-Sorry." He apologized but didn't get rid of the agitated demeanor, "But just hearin' your story makes me angry!" His angry expression then mellowed out and proceeded to eat as he spoke, "So... you left your hometown, and... you're livin' here now, huh?"

Akira nodded,  _"*sigh* I miss Nanako-chan..."_

They eat for a while as their Personas are rambling in their heads.

 _"This grub is even better than the fishes I eat!"_  Kidd was a bit delighted of the taste of ginger.

 _"Haven't tasted this for a while..."_  Arsene commented

"Huh." Ryuji started as he finished his bowl, "We might be more alike than I originally thought."

"You may be right." Akira agreed.

The blonde smiled, "You're the first guy that made me think that." His expression then became a bit solemn, "I guess it's how we're treated like a pain in the ass by the people around us, like we don't belong."

_"Basically, we're both misfits."_

"I did something stupid at school before, too." He said and then finished his first bowl, "The place you're livin' now is in... Yongen, right? It's rush hour on the subways. I suggest you kill some time before headin' home." He then glanced at Akira's bowl and realized that it was still full, "What the hell, man. You barely touched your food." He said as he opened a container and decided to put more food into it.

Akira stared at him in confusion, "What are you doing?"

Ryuji grinned at him, "Just lemme do it, I gotta thank you for helpin' me. Anyways, I got your back like you got mine from tomorrow on. As long as we do something about Kamoshida, I'm sure we'll both feel better at bein' at school." Ryuji told him as he suddenly remembered something and took out his phone, "Oh yeah! Tell me your number, Chat ID too."

The two of them exchanged contacts and they heard Kidd's curiosity of their phones.

 _"Hm? What's that device?"_  Kidd asks in curiosity.

"It's a phone, dude." Ryuji said out loud before Akira covered his mouth.

"Remember: people can't hear our Personas so just speak to him in your mind." Akira informed him as he let go.

"Oh yeah..." Ryuji remembered that Akira can telepathically speak with Arsene and decided to try it out,  _"Can ya hear me, dude?"_

 _"Loud and clear, lad!"_  Kidd responded enthusiastically.

"That's so cool!" Ryuji exclaimed, getting another set of confused stares that he had to apologize for a few seconds later. He then frowned slightly as he gripped his phone, "Just you wait, Kamoshida... We're gonna start right away tomorrow. First, let's hit up those guys that were kept as slaves. The volleyball rally's tomorrow, huh? Shit's recommended by Kamoshida. Make me wanna gag." Ryuji commented, "But thanks to that, we got no classes in the afternoon, and we can walk around unnoticed."

"Do you really think we won't gain any attention once others see the two infamous students hanging out?" Akira asks.

Ryuji flinched, "Good point... I guess we can work out the details tomorrow." He then grinned again and took opened container of food, "C'mon, you gotta eat more! There's tons of ginger here!"

Akira sweatdropped when the blonde suddenly puts more food into his already full bowl, well, at least he won't be hungry tonight.

 _"Looks like we have another long report to Mitsuru-san."_  Arsene told him.

 _"Hm-mm, at least it won't be written."_  Akira thought as he began eating the ginger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided. Arsene is going to be stronger than Loki (y'know, Akira being a Persona-user for 4 years in this story and Akechi only 2 years). Though, unlike Loki, Arsene holds back and will only get really serious and go all-out on emergencies. Also, I've decided that Arsene will have a second form.
> 
> I made Morgana have a much closer relationship with Akira since the former was created for the purpose of helping the latter.
> 
> Though, I say this, there's no guarantee that I'll be able to finish this story ('Cause I'm about to go to college, plus, I never finish any of my stories). So, let me say that you guys are free to use this story idea if you want.
> 
> Feel free to leave a review.


	6. Unknown Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of P2 references here in this story.

"Mitsuru-sama?"

"Hm?"

Kikuno stood in front of her desk, looking a bit worried for her childhood friend.

"You have become a bit saddened ever since your discussion with Akira-kun, Mitsuru-sama." Artemicia told her user, her tone is the same as Kikuno.

"Oh, it's just—" Mitsuru cut herself off, not sure what she was going to say next. She then sighed, "It's about Akira-kun's family, or rather, his adoptive mother."

It raised a question mark above the maid's head, "Adoptive mother? He had one?"

Mitsuru nodded solemnly, "Yes.  _Had_. She was his caretaker before she died and Akira-kun got taken in by a random family."

Surprise took over Kikuno's face for a moment before it was replaced with a look of concern, "What are you worried about regarding that?"

"Well..." She played with a lock of her hair, "To be honest, I haven't looked further into Akira-kun's family background until it sparked my interest until just recently, back when he visited Port Island earlier this year."

* * *

_"Akira-kun?"_

_In the Gekkoukan High School rooftop, the Kirijo head approached the frizzy-haired boy who, along with Arsene, were staring at the distance, more specifically at a particular district of the city of Iwatodai._

_"What is it, Mitsuru-san?" He turned to the redhead._

_"I've noticed that every time I see you here, you're always staring at that area." Mitsuru said as she pointed at the district she was talking about. Looking from the rooftop, they can pretty much see most of the city._

_"Oh, it's just where my mom died." He replied nonchalantly._

_Mitsuru flinched at his response and her expression instantly became apologetic, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."_

_"Nah, it's cool. It was a long time ago."_

_"..." Her expression still hasn't changed but decided to ask something out of curiosity, "If you don't mind me asking, Akira-kun, since when did you lose your mother?"_

_"When I was born and when I was 5." He replied with the same nonchalant tone, this time he didn't looked at her when he answered her._

* * *

"...What?" Kikuno was confused at what Mitsuru told her, "...Did he have more than one mother?"

"He did." Mitsuru confirmed, taking out a folder of documents, "He immediately left when he said that. I figured that he didn't want to talk about it so I didn't brought it up. I was unable to find some time to look it up since I was so busy..."

"Yes, Masayoshi Shido is quite a stubborn competitor..." Artemicia commented.

"Anyway..." Mitsuru opened up the folder, "I found out that Akira-kun's biological mother, Akemi Amamiya, was a resident of Sumaru City and died while giving birth to him." She noticed that Kikuno's expression became solemn, much the same as hers, "He was abandoned by his father, Hideo Amamiya, when he was 3. Back then, his name was Ren Amamiya. He was then taken in by Noriko Kurusu, his adoptive mother, and had his name legally changed." Her expression suddenly hardened.

"Mitsuru-sama?" Kikuno called out to her worriedly.

"Noriko Kurusu's death was listed as a suicide but her case was rather... disturbing..."

"Isn't a suicide disturbing enough?" Artemicia added.

Mitsuru was completely focused on the records, "It says here that she had numerous injuries, severe ones. Deeps cuts on her limbs, bruises all over her body, her head and eyes were bleeding." She bit her lip once she is about to say the last one, "Lastly, a deep cut on her neck which indicated the suicide."

Kikuno kept her composure but on the inside, she winced when Mitsuru revealed the records.

"The strangest thing here is that... there was no record of the object she used to commit suicide. And her death was listed as a suicide was because Akira-kun, the only witness of her death, gave his testimony." Mitsuru frowned, "And one more thing, it says here that her death happened at  **midnight**."

Artemicia put her hand up to her chin, "Come to think of it, didn't he say that he experienced the Dark Hour for a long time?"

Kikuno's eyes widened, a rare gesture that ever happens to her, "Are you perhaps saying..."

"... That Noriko Kurusu died during the Dark Hour? Yes, quite possibly." Mitsuru became saddened, another innocent person died due to the actions of the Kirijo Group, "However, the true answers come from Akira-kun himself and we will ask him when the time comes."

Suddenly, a phone notification icon appeared on her laptop and Mitsuru assumed that it may be Akira, who is going to give his report.

She answered it.

"Yes, Akira-kun?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave a review.


	7. Unpleasant Info

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this story, I made Akira have the death theme (like Minato) alongside the rebellion theme. Why? Because I like depressing themes.
> 
> I actually had this idea of Akira having a death theme ever since the idea of him being part of the Shadow Operatives popped up in my mind. I figured it would fit him since, of course, the S.O.'s (or SEES) main theme is death.

Ann Takamaki and Shiho Suzui are sitting on a bench in the schoolyard near the vending machines. Shiho looked even more downtrodden than usual, and Ann could not help but get worried sick for her best ans only friend.

It all started when she joined the volleyball team...

"C'mon, Shiho, tell me. Is there something wrong?" Ann asked Shiho, she had been continuously asking her the same question for the past five minutes.

"...I-I haven't been sleeping well lately..." The frail girl admitted, looking even more downcast than she was just now, "Whenever I close my eyes, I keep thinking about too many things..."

"Shiho..." Ann gently stroke her friend's back in attempt for comfort, "What are you thinking about?"

It did little to change Shiho's demeanor, "Nationals are coming up soon, so I keep thinking... Should someone like me really be on the starting lineup...?"

"Don't worry. Just be confident in yourself!" Ann enthusiastically told her friend in an attempt to at least cheer her up, "Your skills have been recognized! It's all because you work harder than anyone else!"

Shiho didn't say anything for a bit, she didn't seem to be convinced by her encouragement, "Yes... Volleyball's all I have, after all..."

"More importantly, was that injury OK? It looked really swollen." Ann pointed out, referring to the injury located around her elbows that is covered by black bandages of some sort.

The downtrodden girl shook her head, "No, it's nothing. It's normal... Especially since a meet's coming up..."

Ann looked as if she didn't believe her.

All of the sudden, the injured blue-haired boy from Ann's class approached them, his expression the same as Shiho's.

"Sorry to interrupt, Suzui." The quiet boy bit his lip but managed to say the words he is about to say, "Um... Mr. Kamoshida told me to get you."

"Huh?" Shiho looked horrified, "What does he want...?"

The boy looked away, looking guilty, "He didn't say..."

Shiho lowered her head, looking even worse for wear, "Ann, I..."

Ann became saddened as well before her expression was replaced with a look of encouragement, "It'll be fine! I bet it's a meeting about the starting lineup or something."

Shiho stayed silent at first but her mouth curled up into a hopeful smile, "...Yeah." She then stood up, although Ann didn't see it, her expression became pained once more, "Well, I better go..."

"Yup. Good luck!"

Shiho nodded and walked away alongside the injured boy.

"Hang in there, Shiho...!"

* * *

Once Akira got home, Sojiro gave him another warning before closing up the cafe. However, he did looked worried when he saw how exhausted Akira is and the latter didn't even bother to give an excuse. Now, the frizzy-haired boy is sure that the old man is a softie at heart.

He was so exhausted that he was about to fall asleep in his uniform if Arsene hadn't remind him to take a shower and change and give his report to Mitsuru. He also got a couple of messages from Ryuji. Turns out, the navigator appeared on his phone too. He then remembered Igor's words.

_"Should there be others who would prove beneficial to you, I will grant it to them as well. This is all for you to grow as a most excellent thief."_

_"Is this what he meant by that?"_

After taking a shower, he brought out the laptop Mitsuru-san gave him as a gift and plugged his earphones in. He was thinking of buying a new pair of headphones with a higher volume than his earphones if it meant it'll be able to block the loud whispers of rumors from his ears.

After a few seconds of ringing, Mitsuru finally picked up.

"Yes, Akira-kun?" Suddenly, her eyes widened upon seeing the boy's face.

Artemicia got into screen view and voiced the words Mitsuru wanted to say, "What happened? You look terrible."

"Long story..."

He then told everything that happened today to the Kirijo head, about the navigator, the nature of the Palace, cognitive beings, the possibility that Morgana might be similar to Teddie and lastly, the awakening of a new Persona-user.

"So his awakening is similar to yours?" Mitsuru asks. She then remembered that the Investigation Team and Aigis were the only ones who witnessed Akira's awakening, she should probably ask them about it later.

"Morgana said that it has something to do with a strong will of rebellion." Akira added, "So it isn't just simply accepting one's true self, but I think it's like giving into the temptation of power that our Shadow selves give us."

"Are you not aware of this already?" Artemicia asks.

"The awakening is the same, you know the rebellion and all that but..." He seemed to hesitate, his eyes darting a bit, unsure if he should tell her because it will only make her worry, "...There's another meaning behind mine." He looked at Mitsuru directly, "It's very close to your case."

Mitsuru adopted an expression with a mix of seriousness and worry behind it, "You mean..."

"Yes. But it's strange..." Akira suddenly trailed off, his eyes look as if they're looking at a distance.

"How so?" Mitsuru asks.

Akira shook his head, "No, it's nothing."

"Still, to think that school is allowing this kind of thing to happen." Mitsuru thumbed her chin worriedly.

"It's because that bastard is upholding the reputation of the volleyball team, which is considered to be the pride of Shujin. That's why Principal Blob is letting him do as he pleases so that the reputation wouldn't change."

"Is no one speaking up about this? Even outside of the volleyball team?" Mitsuru asks, ignoring Akira's nickname for the principal.

Akira reluctantly shook his head, "For all I know, the players are too afraid to speak up. I'm not sure about the others, though. But there have been rumors about it. I don't know why no one's at least investigating it. That's why we're going to find out tomorrow."

They then dropped the subject and Akira was about to conclude his report until Mitsuru asked something again.

"Although, was the trip to the Palace really that tiring for you to be in this state?"

Akira flinched when he noticed the seriousness in that question and gulped nervously. Oh yeah, he cut the real reason of his exhaustion. He realized that the Kirijo had narrowed her eyes, an indication that he needed to give a proper explanation.

Arsene decided to do the honors, "He got impaled in the abdomen and shoulder and I was strangled and nearly got suffocated." He explained flatly, "We both could have surely died if Ryuji hadn't awakened Captain Kidd and Morgana-san and Zorro-san healed us."

"WHAT!?" Mitsuru jumped up from her seat and slammed her hands on the table.

"Is that true!?" Artemicia asks in worry.

"Arsene!" Akira yelled.

"What?" Arsene shrugged, "Mitsuru-san wanted a proper explanation so I just told her what happened."

"Why did you not tell me this!?" Mitsuru shouted.

"Anyway~, it'sgettinglatesoseeyoutomorrowbye!" Akira immediately closed the laptop before Mitsuru could bombard him with tons of questions.

"Are you sure you should've done that?" Arsene asks worriedly, looking a bit afraid since of course, it's Mitsuru.

Akira shrugged and he put back his laptop inside his drawer, "Don't worry, she'll cool off by tomorrow... probably."

"Good grief, you sound like Morgana-san."

Akira then laid down and pulled up his blanket. Arsene was hovering above him, the two of them stared at each other since the thief knew that his user has something on his mind.

The boy thought about his discussion with Mitsuru regarding the mask-ripping awakenings.

Akira's eyes started to flutter shut.

Arsene then faded back into his mind and Akira then fell into a dark slumber.

Unbeknownst to them, there was a camera of microscopic size hidden beneath the wooden walls near the desk, listening to Akira's every word.

* * *

Once again, Akira and Arsene found themselves back into the Velvet Room. Igor spoke to them with his usual greeting.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room. I thought about resuming our previous conversation tonight. That is why I have summoned you." Igor said, looking at him directly with his bloodshot eyes, "What are your thoughts? Are you becoming accustomed to this place?"

"Yeah." Akira answered, "You did say this place reflects the state of my heart, right?"

The mysterious man let out a delighted chuckle, "Ah, indeed, glad to hear it. It seems you have nerves of steel."

"..."

"Your rehabilitation determines if ruin can be stopped. Yet, such a feat cannot be done by you alone." Igor told him, "But today, you entered a partnership with someone who awoke to the same power, haven't you?"

"You mean Ryuji?"

"Involving yourself with others is an important foundation for your recovery. You've done well."

 _"...He sounds like a parent trying to tell their child to make friends..."_  Arsene commented.

 _"No kidding..."_  Akira agreed.

"That said, I am not advising the formation of superficial relationships. It must not be of frivolity, but a ring of those who would, by morals or faith, lend you their strength. In other words, they are bonds with those who have been robbed of their places to belong. The expansion of said ring will, in return, help you mature as well."

Justine then spoke up, "Personas are the strength of heart..."

"The stronger the bonds that surround you, the more power your Personas will gain..." Parvati explained.

"There are countless people in the city who have talents that a weakling like you doesn't." Shiva said.

"You better rack that noggin of yours and get them on your side. We'll change that into power." Caroline said.

The twin wardens explained that the bonds they're talking about are are called Confidants. Akira remembered that Yu called them Social Links, did Igor changed the term?

"Indeed. You should be prepared to use even myself, or your ambitions will not come to fruition." Igor chuckled, "We have a deal then..."

_"If feels like Igor has high expectations of me..."_

The same voice from before echoed in his mind.

**I am thou, thou art I...**

**Thou hast acquired a new vow.**

**It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.**

**With the birth of the Fool Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power...**

_"The Fool...?"_

It seems like his case will be a little different from Yu's, because in the latter's case, the Fool was represented by the Investigation Team themselves and he never mentioned having a link with Igor.

Akira was wondering if the Velvet Room residents could hear the voice but Igor spoke up first.

"Well, you will understand it all in due time... Continue devoting yourself to your rehabilitation."

"Now, this conversation's over! Get lost, Inmate!"

Caroline's yell were the last words they heard before darkness blackened their visions.

* * *

Akira snapped his eyes open and checked the time on his phone.

It's early morning.

_"...Hey, Arsene."_

_"Yes?"_

_"Did we even sleep?"_

_"I'm not sure. How do you feel?"_

Akira sat up and stretched before a loud yawn escaped from his lips.

_"Physically refreshed but mentally tired..."_

_"I guess we should request Igor to stop interrupting us in our sleep the next time we go there..."_  Arsene suggested.

* * *

"Hm?"

Arsene approached the wall bear the desk. He leaned his head closer and peeked at the small open gap.

Akira, who is drying his hair after taking a shower, noticed his Persona's sudden behavior.

"What's wrong?"

"Akira... You need to see this."

Confused, the frizzy-haired boy stood up and took a peek of where Arsene is looking at. He raised an eyebrow when he found a microscopic camera.

"..."

Akira took a few steps to his bed to pick up his school coat and went back to where the camera is, smirking smugly as he put on his coat and stared at the camera.

"Whoever you are... You're a freaking pervert for watching everything I do 24/7."

Arsene chuckled.

* * *

From a house just a few blocks away, a young girl is staring at the screen, listening to the audio that was recorded just now.

_"_ _Whoever you are... You're a freaking pervert for watching everything I do 24/7."_

"Who the hell are you calling a pervert!?" The girl screamed.

* * *

While walking to school alongside some passing students, Akira overheard a few of them talking about the volleyball rally.

Akira pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in irritation, "I am  _so_  looking forward to it..."

 _"Well, I'm looking forward to ripping that bastard to shreds."_  Arsene scoffed.

* * *

"God, this is so effin' boring..."

Ryuji groaned as he lowered his head.

"No kidding." Akira agreed while cleaning the fog on his fake glasses.

This round, it was a Teachers vs Students match. Of course, the frail volleyball players could barely block the strikes from the teachers, more specifically, Kamoshida. One of the players, Yuuki Mishima, fell backwards from a spike delivered by that perverted bastard.

Akira looked around the gym, most of the guys were bored as hell like them while the girls on the chairs were acting like some sort of cheer leading squad. His gaze trail lastly to the girl from his class. He vaguely remembered her name was Ann Takamaki, who has blonde hair and blue eyes because of her American lineage. He felt almost sorry for her due to the fact that both of them have some similarities, not good ones. Aside from his criminal record, one of the most popular rumors is that she's a slut, and people treat her like an outcast simply because her looks are different from most.

"Still sticks out... She hasn't changed a bit." Akira heard Ryuji muttered and saw that the latter is also looking at Takamaki.

"You two know each other?" Akira asks in curiosity.

 _"Aye, what a lass!"_  Kidd commented.

"Oh, we just went to the same middle school. We kinda y'know... drifted apart once we got in high school." Ryuji explained as he yawned in boredom.

"Oh, okay." Akira said as he focused back to the match.

Only to see Mishima get spiked in the face by Kamoshida.

 _"Why that fucking...!"_  Arsene cursed, which wasn't surprising considering a teacher just injured a frail student, even more so without remorse.

"Sorry! Are you all right?" Kamoshida adopted a worried expression as he made his way to Mishima.

 _"Fuck outta here..."_ Akira inwardly groaned in disgust.

"Someone! Take him to the nurse's office!" Kamoshida exclaimed.

 _"Akira... This is our chance."_  Arsene whispered.

Akira nodded in agreement as he stood up, raising his hand, "I'll do it."

Most of the gym went silent (causing Akira to sweatdrop) then turned to a quiet concert of whispers.

"Dude, what're you doing?" Ryuji whispered.

 _"This is our chance to get some info."_  Arsene instead replied to him because Akira couldn't, well, not in front of Kamoshida.

"Thanks, Kurusu." Kamoshida handed Mishima to Akira, who hoisted the player onto his shoulder, with Kamoshida and some of the students (even Ryuji) widening their eyes at the amount of muscle strength he has. Mishima may not be heavy but he isn't light either and an average teenager can't just simply pick someone up with one hand.

Kamoshida smirked smugly, "You seem to be well exercised. Care for a short round once you come back?"

Akira politely shook his head and smiled apologetically, "Thank you for the offer, Kamoshida-sensei. But I don't play volleyball."

* * *

Akira took Mishima to the nurse's office and the latter was provided with an ice pack to ease the pain of his bruise.

"Um, thanks for helping me, Kurusu-kun." Mishima slightly bowed in appreciation, still holding his ice pack to his cheek.

Akira brushed it off with a wave, "Don't mention it. Although, I am worried about your injuries, not just your bruise right now. Are you sure you should be playing in the first place?"

He noticed that Mishima's face paled.

 _"Jackpot."_  Arsene said.

"O-Oh, this? T-They're just from p-practice..." Mishima stuttered, trying to cover his bandaged wounds.

Akira sighed, of course he had expected that kind of answer, "Of course they're from practice, especially since Kamoshida is your coach." Mishima flinched at his statement and looked at Akira a bit warily when he took a sit to the bed next to him, " _Mishima_ , just tell me. Why isn't anyone speaking up to this?" His expression grew more serious, showing a deep frown on his face, "Don't even think about avoiding my question or give me any half-assed answers."

The frail boy's eyes widened in shock before giving in as he lowered his head, his expression completely filled with hopelessness and guilt, "...It's because..."

* * *

The volleyball player raised an eyebrow and took a step back when he noticed the troublemaker Ryuji Sakamoto approached him, "W-What do you want?"

The fake blonde tried to make himself less intimidating by softening his expression to genuine worriness, "Look, I'm just askin'. How'd you get injured like that?"

"It's from practice." He answered immediately, "Sakamoto, I've heard you've been snooping around Kamoshida-sensei. It won't do you any good."

"But, I—"

However, Ryuji was cut off with a sigh, "You, of all people, should know that I'm telling the truth here. It's no use. Even if you expose a dirty secret about Kamoshida, everyone already knows."

Ryuji's eyes widened in shock, "What...?"

 _"Well, I'll be damned..."_  Kidd commented.

* * *

Akira was now in a  _terrible_  mood due to what Mishima told him. The information was needed but extremely unpleasant. He is very skilled in hiding his own emotions in order to look like a polite and harmless teenager when needed but right now, he let a slight scowl form on his face because on the inside, his anger is pretty much comparable to a storm. He nearly slammed the door of the nurse's office when he got out. He didn't even bother asking the other volleyball players since Mishima already told him everything.

Because of all these thoughts swirling around in his head, he didn't notice the person walking towards him and ended up bumping into them.

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." The raven immediately apologized while slightly bowing before he could even look at them.

The person turned out to be a girl and she had bowed as well, "Ah, it's all right. I'm sorry as well."

Once Akira had ascended his head, he took a moment to fully examine the girl. She had short brown hair and red eyes. Her uniform is quite different from the regular ones, instead, she wears a black halter vest over a long sleeve white shirt with a turtleneck (which is different from normal turtlenecks for female students). But as for the rest, it's the same as the other students.

The girl also looked at him the same way and raised an eyebrow, "Say, aren't you the transfer student from the second-year?"

Akira politely nodded, "I am, my name is Akira Kurusu. Again, I'm sorry."

"Please, stop. I wasn't looking either." The dignified-looking girl said, "My name is Makoto Nijima, the student council president."

She finally met the infamous transfer student. She must say, he didn't look anything like what the rumors says at all. In fact, at first glance, he seemed harmless and polite. But what if it was just an act? She had also heard that he's been hanging out with Ryuji Sakamoto, "How are you faring during your first few days?"

"Undesirable." Akira deadpanned, his dry tone surprising Nijima, "Everyone found out about my record before I even got to school and had to listen to annoying rumors that are even more ridiculous than seeing a king wearing nothing but a speedo and a royal coat for 8 hours a day."

 _"You're really tired, aren't you?"_  Arsene asked, amused by his deadpanned response.

_"Yep."_

Nijima was dumbfounded on the last part. She had expected this kind of answer but not how it was worded, "Er, I'm sorry I didn't catch the last part. A king wearing a... speedo?"

"It's just a reference. Sorry you had to hear me complaining, Nijima-senpai."

"Oh, it's fine." Nijima took a closer look at his expression. She noticed that he's not looking at her but seemed to be staring at something, "Is something the matter, Kurusu-kun?"

"That's a member of the volleyball team, right?" She turned around to look at the person he was staring at.

It's one of the second-years.

"Yes, he is." Nijima confirmed. As the student council president, she reviewed the list of groups from different clubs and sports team.

"Is his injury okay?"

Nijima once again raised an eyebrow. Why does he care about that?

"Yes. However, Kamoshida-sensei is pretty strict when it comes to practice." She responded the best words she could describe about it.

"Practice is so severe to the point where he had bandages all over his arms, huh?" This statement was quietly muttered but still loud enough to reach Nijima's ears. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He looked at his phone and checked the time, "Looks like I have to get going. I guess I'll see you around, Nijima-senpai."

Nijima nodded, "See you later, then."

She watched him walk away and looked at the injured volleyball player one last time before the latter packed up and left.

She couldn't help but grimace when she saw the boy's bandaged arms again.

Are the rumors true?

* * *

Akira then heard his phone ring and checked it.

**Ryuji: Hey, man. How'd it go?**

**Akira: Everyone knows.**

**Ryuji: Damn it!**

**Akira: Chill.**

_"It's pretty ironic for you to say that."_  Arsene told him, looking at the phone through Akira's eyes.

_"Yeah, but it won't do us any good."_

**Ryuji: Mkay, let's regroup for now. See you in the courtyard?**

**Akira:**   **Sure.**

* * *

At the courtyard, the raven bought a soda from the vending machine there and sat on the bench, waiting for Ryuji to come. It still irks him to think that no one is at least speaking up about the abuse. Since their injuries are from "practice", the abuse is probably in plain sight. He didn't even know why that abuse is even considered a rumor.

"This. Sucks." He took a sip of his soda.

Arsene sighed exasperatedly.

A few minutes passed by and Akira finished his drink, he stood up and threw the can of soda in the trash until he noticed the beautiful blonde girl from his class.

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" Takamaki asked.

Akira tilted his head, wondering what could she want from him, "What is it?"

"It'll be quick." She then crossed her arms and looked at him suspiciously, "Anyway, what's with you? Like, how you were late the other day was a lie and all... There's that weird rumor about you too."

Akira was about to make an excuse until they were interrupted by Ryuji.

"Whaddya want with him?" He asks as he approached them.

Ann frowned, "Right back at you. You're not even in our class."

"...We just happened to get to know each other." The fake blond replied.

"What're you planning on doing to Mr. Kamoshida?" She asks suspiciously.

"Huh?" Ryuji then frowned, "...I see. I getcha. You're all buddy-buddy with Kamoshida after all."

Takamaki then became somewhat agitated, "This has nothing to do with you, Sakamoto!"

 _"Actually, he does."_  Akira mentally remarked.

"If you found out what he's been doin' behind your back, you'd dump him right away." Ryuji argued back.

She raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Behind my back...? What's that supposed to mean...?"

Akira and Ryuji glanced at each other for a moment before the latter sighed, "You wouldn't get it."

"Anyway, people are already talking about you two. I don't know what you're trying to pull, but no one's gonna help you." She looked at them worriedly, "I'm warning you, just in case, that's all." She then left.

Ryuji kicked the ground, "Why's she gotta be so aggressive all the time...?"

"I think she was just worried, lad." Kidd remarked as he appeared beside him, as well as Arsene.

"Hey, Ryuji. What did you mean about her being buddy-buddy with Kamoshida?" The raven asks curiously.

"Haven't you heard? Lately, she's been hanging out with Kamoshida like he's his girl." Ryuji told him.

Akira thumbed his chin and thought about it. He remembered her expression when she got into that perverted bastard's car at the start of his first day. Maybe she was being forced?

"Anyways, that's not what we're here to talk about." Ryuji then slumped down, "Everyone knows, huh?"

Akira nodded grimly.

"Dammit!" Ryuji yelled, "Why isn't anyone speaking up about this!?"

"They're probably afraid of Kamoshida." The raven said.

"What do we do now?" Arsene wondered, "I doubt we're able to expose him like this."

"...I'll try one more time to persuade the other guys. That's... all I can do." Ryuji told him.

" _*sigh*_ "

Today was not a good day.

Akira walked to the station with a saddened look on his face. Thinking about how those abused students are getting beaten-up for no reason and them not speaking up out of fear by that bastard is enough for Akira for wanting to beat the crap out of that asshole.

 _"If this doesn't work, we'll have to find an alternative."_  Arsene said.

_"Yeah, but how?"_

"Hey, watch it!" Akira heard a familiar voice.

"Huh?"

The raven looked around him, trying to find the source of that voice. However, he couldn't due to the massive amount of people in the station.

"Ah! My tail!" The boyish voice was very close.

_"Tail?"_

That voice sounded very familiar.

After a few seconds, he took a walk around the station. He was near the ticket area but still couldn't find it.

"Akira! Over there!" Arsene suddenly appeared above him, pointing at the platform that was near the rails. Many people are waiting for the upcoming train.

"Where?" Akira asks, trying to look at where Arsene is specifically pointing but to no avail.

Arsene then cleared his throat and put hand near his mouth and shouted, "Zorro-san! We're over here!"

Out of nowhere, the same bulky Persona that Akira was used to seeing in the Palace manifested above the crowd of people.

_"Zorro!?"_

"Señor Arsene! Señor Akira!" Zorro waved his hand.

"What!? They're here!?"

Okay, now he knows who it is.

Akira immediately ran and slipped past the crowd to the spot where Zorro is standing. Once he reached him, he saw that the swordsman was hovering above a small animal.

A black cat with a yellow scarf.

"Akira!" The black cat immediately ran up to him, looking absolutely relieved to have finally found him.

At this point, he was just surprised that the so-called "not-cat" hadn't been stepped on.

"Morgana?" He knelt down.

"That's right!"

"What're you doing here?" Akira asks.

"I decided to come to the real world and follow you guys but..." Morgana trailed off and suddenly looked a bit embarrassed.

"I get the picture." The raven told him, "So what are you going to do now?"

"Well, I can't contact you from inside a Palace, so I'll stay in this world." The feline replied.

"Where?" Arsene asked.

Silence.

"You'll need someone to take care of you, right?"

"Yes..." Morgana sighs.

Without saying a word, Akira suddenly picked Morgana up, surprising the feline, the former looked directly to the latter's eyes.

"How about my place?"

"Really?"

"Sure. Although, I can't say you'll be comfortable there."

"I'm all for it! Anywhere is a lot more comfortable than the cell." Morgana said, "Also, remember when I said that I have some questions for you? It's your turn to answer that."

Akira smiled softly at him, "Okay, then."

"But, Akira." Arsene spoke up, "Would Sakura-san allow this?"

Akira shrugged, "Meh, I'll just hide him."

His Persona chuckled before turning to Zorro.

"Looks like we'll be roommates from now on, Zorro-san."

Zorro nodded, "Indeed."

"Do you mind if you stay in the bag for now?" The raven asks.

"I don't mind, as long as you keep a hole open so I can breathe."

Akira snorted and gently placed Morgana in the bag, it's a good thing he didn't brought the textbooks of the afternoon classes.

 _"I ain't paying the pet fare."_  Akira thought amusingly.

 _"You do know that the pet fare is like pocket change for you, right?"_  Arsene noted with a chuckle,  _"Considering how much money you earned from working under Mitsuru-san for the past 4 years. Office workers would have been jealous of you."_

_"Well, you do remember that we've been fighting Shadows that drop money for the past 4 years?"_

_"Touché."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made Morgana meet Akira in the real world much earlier while he got lost and I know I made Morgana a little out of character here. In this story, Morgana isn't that condescending to Akira because he highly respects the latter because he's more experienced in battling Shadows and has been a Persona-user for much longer than Morgana.


	8. More Answers, More Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, this is gonna be a boring chapter.
> 
> One more thing, let me say I'm a fucking moron for misspelling Artemisia's name to "Artemicia".

"Is this... some kind of abandoned house?" Morgana asked once he hopped off Akira's bag and took an observation of his new residence.

"Shh." Akira hushed him, "Keep it down."

"He's in a bit of a tight situation right now. That's why he's living here." Arsene explained.

"What kind of situation?" Zorro asks in curiosity.

"Well, it's—"

However, Arsene was cut off when they heard footsteps of the wooden floor. Sojiro went up the attic and approached his ward with a raised eyebrow, oblivious of the two mysterious beings beside them.

"Hey, are you—" The old man noticed the cat on Akira's bed and scratched the back of his head, "I was wondering why I heard meowing... What did you bring it here for!?"

The raven raised an eyebrow.

_"Meowing?"_

"It doesn't have a home." Was Akira's response.

And he wasn't lying.

Sojiro sighed, "Nowhere, huh...?" He crossed his arms, "Look, this place is a restaurant. Animals are a no-go..." He then thumbed his chin as he pondered about it, "Though I guess you might stay on good behavior if you've got a pet to take care of..." He glanced at the cat for a moment, seeing that the feline was making those cutesy eyes, "Fine."

Both his ward and the cat smiled in delight but the barista wasn't finished.

"But keep it quiet when we're open for business. And don't let it roam downstairs, or I'll toss it out." Sojiro added, "Oh, and I'm not gonna take care of it. That's all on you."

Sojiro went back downstairs and Morgana glanced at Akira with a curious look, "Was that the ruler of this place?"

Akira chuckled while nodding, "Yeah, something like that."

"He seemed pretty understanding for someone who keeps you cramped up in this dump." Morgana commented.

"He's just a little strict, that's all. From what I can tell, I'm sure he's actually a softie at heart." Akira said. He had always been a pretty perceptive individual. Especially when it comes to figuring out people by observing their behaviors, skills, etc.

He then chuckled when a funny memory kicked in his mind. He remembered the surprised look on the Shadow Operatives' faces when he deduced each one of their occupations, especially the bewildered and embarrassed look on Shinjiro Aragaki's face when he figured out that he was a cook from his smell of spices after meeting for just 5 seconds. Naoto often said that he's more suited to be the Second Coming of Detective Prince than the famous Goro Akechi.

Speaking of which...

"From what Sakura-san just said, I assume normal people can only hear you meow?" Akira asked as he organized his bag, pulling out unneeded items.

Morgana nodded in confirmation, "Yeah. That's why I couldn't ask for directions earlier."

"I don't know how many times I shouted whenever we nearly got stepped on." Zorro commented with a sigh.

Suddenly, Sojiro came back holding a plate of food and placed it on Akira's bed, right in front of Morgana.

"Seriously... It had to keep calling out in that cute little voice..."

Akira had to choke down his chuckle when Arsene laughed at that statement.

"Make sure you wash that dish. By the way... have you decided on a name?" Sojiro asks.

"His name's Morgana."

"Morgana? Isn't that a girl's name?"

"I'm not a girl!" Morgana hissed.

"Whoa, easy! It's like he could understand us." Sojiro commented, "I was hoping I'd get to name it..."

Arsene laughed again and this time, Akira bit his lip to further suppress the laugh that is threatening to emerge as the old man went back downstairs.

"Sakura-san is either an animal lover or just a cat person." Arsene said.

"The first one is what I can confirm." Akira responded before going back to organize his school items.

"To be honest, this place is heaven compared to Kamoshida's cells." Morgana commented as he ate through the food Sojiro brought.

"Yeah, at least you won't get tortured here." Akira commented.

He thought about how people would probably see him as crazy if they knew he was having a conversation with a "cat" (Not that he would worry about it considering that he heard another new rumor about him being a crazy killer or something).

He momentarily focused his gaze at the place where that camera once was.

It's a good thing he got rid of it this morning.

However, the problem is that the person behind that probably heard his side of the conversations with Mitsuru (Not Mitsuru herself, since Akira had always plugged in earphones in the laptop). One of the main suspects is Sojiro himself, since he owns the cafe, but he doesn't look technology-literate at all. However, this might become his undoing considering Naoto had once failed to deduce Shinjiro's hobbies simply due to his appearance. So he wouldn't scrap that possibility off the list. He mentally facepalmed when he remembered what he said to that camera this morning. Sojiro was at the cafe when he said that but that would've been recorded. There's also the fact that he was openly talking to Arsene, meaning he was probably already considered crazy for talking to himself (literally) by whoever was watching him. After him, he couldn't think of any other person to include but he remembered Sojiro's phone calls. At first, he seemed like he was just talking a friend (a lady, perhaps) but Akira remembered the expressions he made whenever he finished the call. The Boss looked like a parent worrying for his child, though, he wasn't sure since he himself no longer has any parents, this speculation just stems from his observation of Dojima-san worrying for Nanako-chan, since the expression was pretty similar. Come to think of it, does Sojiro have any family members? He hadn't heard about a single one of them. No one answered the doorbell when he first came to his house, but maybe they were out or just ignored the alarm.

His thoughts were interrupted by Morgana, who looked at him with a bit of worry along with Zorro.

"Hey, are you alright?" The feline asked. Akira glanced at his dish and realized that it was already empty.

"You have been silent for a while." The bulky Persona added.

Akira hadn't realized that he took a sit on his bed and crossed his arms while he was dwelling in his thoughts. He gave his new pet a reassuring smile and patted his head.

"I'm fine, just had a lot to think about."

"It's about Kamoshida, isn't it?"

"Not exactly but that too..." The raven stood up and picked up the empty plate, "I'm going to wash this for a moment. Be right back."

Arsene followed his partner downstairs and waited for the latter to finish washing the dish. Akira glanced around the bottom floor as if looking for something before he continued washing.

 _"Arsene, can you check if there are any more of those cameras?"_  He mentally told Arsene, since the cameras can't record the sight of a supernatural being.

"Sure." The winged Persona nodded before quickly examining the cafe as Akira now proceeded to dry the dish.

"There's one under the counter on the customer's side, here at the frame of the door, one at the kitchen, another at the ceiling... and, oh! There's another one inside the bathroom." The last one nearly made Akira drop the plate.

 _"Please tell me you're joking."_  He mentally pleaded as he put away the plate.

"I am." Arsene mischievously chuckled, much to Akira's relief, "I'm going to check if there are any more in the attic."

His user nodded,  _"Sure."_

Arsene went back upstairs first as Akira closed the lights of the bottom floor before following suit.

By the time he got there, Arsene was checking every corner of the attic with a confused Morgana and Zorro watching him, curious at what the thief Persona is doing.

"What's he doing?" Morgana asked.

Akira put a finger in the middle of his mouth to hush him. Both the cat and his Persona are confused but kept quiet.

After a minute of looking, Arsene shrugged, "There's no more cameras."

"Cameras?" This time, it was Zorro's turn to ask.

Akira then proceeded to explain the camera situation to them.

"In short, there's a high possibility that they're keeping an eye on me so that I won't be up to anything they won't like, despite invading my privacy."

"Does this have something to do about what Señor Arsene said about you being in a tight situation?" Zorro asked again.

The raven nodded and took a sit on his bed, "It's gonna be a quite a long story so I hope you listen."

And just like that, he told them his story. How he aided the woman, and then falsely accused by court and now being sent to undeserved probation.

"What!? That's messed up!" Morgana exclaimed after hearing the absurd story.

"This is absurd." Zorro agitatedly commented.

"That man definitely deserves a change of heart!"

Akira raised an eyebrow, "Change of heart?"

"I never told you about my plan, did I?"

The raven shook his head, "Nope."

Morgana then settled in on his lap, his face becoming quite solemn, "...Remember how you guys asked me before about what I am?"

Seeing Akira nod in confirmation, Morgana continued, "To be honest... I don't remember anything about my birth."

"Oh yeah, you did say that you have amnesia." Arsene said, floating in a relaxed position in the middle of the room.

"I think the Metaverse's distortions made me lose both my memories and my true form."

"Your true form... you claim it was human, right?" Akira questioned.

"It has to be!" That caused the feline to perk up and look directly at Akira with eyes of determination, "I mean, why else would a cat be able to talk like this? There's no other possible explanation."

_"Well, considering that Teddie was able to talk in his costume even when he was hollow on the inside before..."_

_"Maybe it works differently in the Metaverse."_ Arsene mentally said.

"There's no doubt that the distortions were what caused me to lose my real self. I'm sure that once they're purged, I'll finally be able to get that self back." Morgana said, "And I have a pretty good idea on how to do it too. That's why I was in the castle in the first place."

"What about this 'change of heart' you speak of?" Arsene asked.

"I'm sure you both remember that the Palace is the manifestation of distorted desires?" Zorro asked.

Akira nodded, "That castle is how Kamoshida views the school."

"He doesn't realize what happens in there, but it's deeply connected to the depths of his heart." Morgana explained.

The raven thumbed his chin, "So that means if we alter anything in that castle, it will affect the Kamoshida in reality?"

Morgana nodded in confirmation, "Thus, if the castle disappears, it would naturally impact the real Kamoshida."

"Since that castle is his distorted desires, then it means said desires will disappear if the castle does."

"Precisely! You sure pick up things really fast!" Morgana said proudly to Akira before continuing on, "Erasing a Palace essentially means forcing the owner to have a change of heart."

"However, that doesn't mean that the crimes they committed would disappear to." Akira said, mumbling, "Since the person's distorted desires had disappeared, they will become unable to bear the weight of those crimes, and that means..."

"...The person will confess them themselves." Arsene finished.

Morgana and Zorro's eyes widened in surprise and awe at Akira's intelligence.

"I was about to say that..." Morgana said in awe, "Not only will we be able to bring Kamoshida down with this method, but there won't even be a trace of our involvement."

"How do we do this method?" Akira asked, wanting to know more information, this just got more and more interesting.

"By stealing the Treasure held within." Morgana answered as he got off Akira's lap for a moment to lick his paw.

"Oho~?" Arsene leaned more towards them with much more interest than before, his smile growing wide. "Stealing, you say?"

"It'll be easier to tell you more about it once we're back in the Palace. Since it's a bit complicated if you don't see it for yourselves." Morgana said, smiling widely in delight, "With your strength and intelligence, I'm sure the castle will be a piece of cake!"

"Remember what happened yesterday?" Akira deadpanned, which caused Morgana to flinch in embarrassment, "Look, Morgana, I may be strong but I'm not invincible. I have a weakness and the Shadow took advantage of it. Yesterday, we were surrounded and there were only the two of us and our Personas. We need to formulate many strategies to make up for what we lack. So that's why..." He then picked the cat up, grinning, "...I'll be counting on you."

Morgana was a bit speechless at his short speech but he gazed proudly at him, "I knew I was right about you. You're more than what you're letting on."

"Indeed, you truly are experienced." Zorro pleasantly agreed.

"True." Akira agreed but decided to ask one more question, "Hey, Morgana, can I ask one more thing?"

Akira's expression suddenly became more worried and unsure, "This method...seems a bit too easy. Won't there be a risk when we steal the Treasure?"

Morgana's eyes widened in realization as he remembered the one piece of information that he forgot to tell him and he momentarily glanced at Zorro, who looked a bit unsure himself, "If we erase a Palace, there is no doubt that the person's distorted desires will be erased as well. But desires are what we all need in order to survive. The will to sleep, eat, fall in love—those sorts of things."

Akira's eyes widened, "Then that means...!"

"If all those yearnings disappear..." Arsene uttered, "They won't even have the desire to live."

Akira thumbed his chin, seemingly at lost in his own thoughts that only Arsene is aware of, "..."

Morgana looked at him a bit in confusion, "Aren't you determined enough to face those kinds of risks?"

"Morgana, a human life isn't something that could be replaced so easily." Akira told him, Morgana noticed that he looked solemn, "The fact the anyone won't know is besides the point. There are consequences, such as the guilt of having taken a life...something which I'm already dealing with..." He lowered his head as quietly muttered the last part but is loud enough for everyone to hear it due to the silence of the attic.

"What...?" Morgana's eyes widened.

Zorro glanced at Arsene and is surprised to see the thief Persona looking very solemn like his user, but also worried.

Akira shook his head, "Anyway, are you 100% sure that he will die?"

After contemplating it a bit, Morgana shook his head, "Not really. This is going to be my first time too. So he only MIGHT suffer a  **mental shutdown**."

"I see."

Still, Akira wasn't sure of this. It's a huge risk but not 100% sure. He's just going to make sure that asshole doesn't die.

He's already dealing with the guilt, after all...

 _"Akira, stop. Don't think like that... It wasn't your fault."_  Arsene comforted him in his mind.

Akira looked up to gaze at his partner and gave him a grateful and also reassuring smile, but he knew Arsene was reading his thoughts.

"Akira, are you okay?" He glanced at Morgana, who along with Zorro, were looking at him worriedly.

Akira shook his head in reassurance, "It's nothing. Just had a lot in my mind."

Suddenly, Morgana's words dawned in his mind.

"Morgana!" He suddenly picked the cat up, who yelped in surprise while Zorro's eyes only widened, "What did you say earlier!?"

"W-What? What did I say...?" Morgana became a bit frantic at Akira's sudden change of behavior.

"Did you say he might suffer a  **mental shutdown**?" The raven managed to calm down a bit.

"Y-Yeah...?"

Arsene's eyes widened in realization at Akira's question and got rid of his relaxed posture.

He then gently put Morgana down and immediately opened the drawer and pulled out his laptop. As he set it up, he glanced at his cat with a smile.

"You said you also have some questions for me, right? I'm going to introduce you to someone first. Hopefully she'll be able to understand you."

"Eh?" Morgana raised an eyebrow and glanced at his sword-wielding persona in confusion, who only shrugged.

After a few minutes of waiting for Akira to set to call whoever he's calling, the person on the other end finally picked up.

Morgana went closer to Akira to take a closer look at the screen. He widened his eyes when he saw the fiery red-hair beauty with a strong air of dignity and authority. However, what shocked the cat even more was when his eyes trailed to the being next to her. A warrior-like beauty with regal clothing, even Zorro was surprised when he laid eyes on her.

However, before Morgana could ask anything, Akira spoke up first and the cat was confused when the raven suddenly slightly bowed.

"Mitsuru-san, before you say anything, I'm really sorry for yesterday." Akira said as Arsene moved right next to him, putting himself in screen view and placing both of his palms together as a sign of apology, "I just didn't want to worry you."

Mitsuru's stern expression softened upon hearing that, "I'm well aware of that. Apology accepted." Her eyes trailed off to Morgana, "I see that you have a new pet."

"I'm not a pet!" Morgana would not accept ANY word that would describe his current form before saying the question that he had since he saw her, "Are you a Persona-user?"

Mitsuru's eyes widened, "Did that cat... just talk?"

"My, this is quite a discovery." Artemisia voiced her interest.

"I'm not a cat!"

"I knew it. Persona-users can hear Morgana." Akira muttered before gesturing to Morgana, "Mitsuru-san, this is Morgana, the... feline I've been telling you about, and Zorro, his Persona. Morgana, this is Mitsuru Kirijo, she's my superior and the leader of the Shadow Operatives, and Artemisia, her Persona."

"'Shadow Operatives'?" Morgana and Zorro asked in sync. This led to Morgana to confirm that Akira isn't just an experienced Persona-user.

Mitsuru decided to explain despite her surprise but that could wait until later, "The Shadow Operatives, officially known as the Shadow Response Unit, are an unofficial section of the police back by the Kirijo Group, the purpose of the Shadow Operatives is to hunt Shadows and deal with Persona related activity."

"Seriously!? There are more Persona-users?" Morgana questioned. There is actually an organization composed of Persona-users?

Mitsuru nodded, "Yes, that's right. Akira-kun here is a reserve member and is one of the most active ones along with three others."

"Whoa..." Morgana was filled with wonder and he turned to Akira, "I guess this answers most of my questions. So is this the reason why you were investigating the Palace in the first place?"

Akira nodded, "Back when we first met was the time I first discovered the existence of the Metaverse. That's when Mitsuru-san assigned me the task to investigate it."

"Which reminds me..." Akira and Morgana turned to Mitsuru, "I was contacted by Fuuka yesterday, she said she was detecting large Shadow activity in Tokyo."

"Really?"

The Kirijo head nodded, "Yes. She detected many Shadows but couldn't specify the locations."

The raven turned to Morgana, "Morgana. Is there a Palace for each and every individual?"

Morgana shook his head, "Not everyone. A Palace only manifests if the person has EXTREMELY distorted desires. Kamoshida is already a good example for that."

Akira became filled with annoyance and displeasure when he remember the poor slaves. The fact that it is happening in reality brought his mood down significantly.

The cat wasn't finished, "I think the large Shadow activity that this Fuuka person is talking about is in Mementos."

Except for Zorro, everyone turned to Morgana confusingly.

"Mementos?" Arsene asked.

"I would describe it as 'Everyone's Palace'." Morgana explained, "It's the Palace of the general public and many Shadows roam there."

"Come to think of it, you did mention that word when we were in the Palace." Akira thoughtfully remembered.

"What kind of structure does this Mementos have?" Artemisia asks.

"Er..." Morgana circled around the bed for a minute trying to think about the words to describe it, "It's like a labyrinth and has some floors. It's the best I could describe it."

"I see. So it's like Tartarus..." Mitsuru hummed in thought.

"And the TV World." Akira added.

"Huh? 'Tartarus'? 'TV World'?" Morgana and Zorro were lost by those two words.

"I'll explain it some other time." Akira said before facing back to Mitsuru, "Anyway, Mitsuru-san..."

Akira, along with Morgana, explained their plan against Kamoshida. Mitsuru was surprised but also unsure.

"Akira-kun, are you sure about this?" She asked seriously, "That may be just a possibility, but it doesn't mean it won't happen.

Morgana gazed at Akira, remembering how he looked so solemn at the mention of killing someone. He was about to ask too until the raven spoke up first.

"Actually, I need to do this if I want to know more about the Metaverse." Akira crossed his arms, "Also, this brings us to another topic..." He gazed at Mitsuru, "...I also need Yu-san and Naoto-san to know about this."

"Hm?" Mitsuru widened her eyes but waited for Akira to explain.

All of them are listening, even Arsene who already knew what his user is about to say.

"I think the Metaverse... may have something to do with the Mental Shutdown cases."

"What!?" Mitsuru exclaimed.

"What's that about?" Morgana asked, once again lost.

"It's those incidents where people suddenly lose their minds all of a sudden and turn into a catatonic state right after." Arsene explained, "It's also known by the public as the 'Psychotic Breakdown Incidents'."

"There was actually an accident in the subway station the other day. We heard the conductor totally lost it." Akira added.

"So when Morgana mentioned the words 'mental shutdown'... you think it's connected?" Mitsuru asked, wanting to know more why Akira thought of it like that.

"I'm still not sure." Akira admitted, "It's only a theory but the cases are too unnatural. I know it's common to be very stressed when it comes to work these days but the shutdowns have been happening one after another... almost everyday. It doesn't make sense."

"Something like that is actually happening right now...?" The cat questioned in shock and the raven nodded grimly.

The Kirijo head thumbed her chin, "That's true..."

Everyone is in depths of their thoughts at this topic and they brainstorm in silence for a few minutes until Arsene spoke up.

"Hey, Morgana-san..." The cat turned to the gentleman thief, "You said that Mementos is the Palace of the general public, right? Is it possible to alter the mindset of a person there? Like what we are about to do with Kamoshida?"

Morgana nodded, "There are Shadow selves of different people there."

"What are you getting at, Señor Arsene?" Zorro asked, finally speaking up after staying silent for most of the conversation. Everybody gaze at the wondering thief Persona.

"What if... someone caused these incidents?"

Akira widened his eyes, "You mean..."

"From what I heard from Morgana-san, it wouldn't be possible for someone's mindset to suddenly go psychotic on its own. What if there's another person that is able to enter the Metaverse and they're doing something to the Shadow selves that made them go psychotic?"

Everybody was silent for a few seconds after Arsene's theory.

"I wouldn't rule that out." Akira said, nodding in agreement, "Let's say someone is causing these incidents, but for what?"

No one knew the answer.

Except one took a close guess.

"What about the victims?" Morgana suggested.

Akira considered what Morgana said and hummed in thought before an idea came into his head, "Mitsuru-san, can you contact Yu-san or Naoto-san? Since they're investigating the case, I'm sure they have the documents of it. I need the files."

The red-haired beauty smiled in agreement, "I see. Very well, I'll try. But it will have to be tomorrow since it's late. Don't you still have school tomorrow?"

At her words, Akira checked the time on his phone, which showed 9:00pm.

"Whoops..." He smiled sheepishly.

"Go to sleep!" Morgana suddenly exclaimed.

"I guess this is good night. We'll continue this tomorrow." Mitsuru smiled in delight, "Naoto-kun was right when she said you're suited to be a detective."

"Indeed." Artemisia agreed, "You should be the next Detective Prince."

The raven blushed at their compliments and grabbed a curl of his hair in front of him, miserably failing to hide his embarrassment.

He could hear Morgana and the two Personas snicker, "...Shut up."

Mitsuru and Artemisia giggled before closing the call and Akira put away the laptop in his drawer.

"I didn't expect that kind of discussion to happen so suddenly." Morgana commented as Zorro went back to his mind, resting.

Akira gave him a grateful smile and patted his head, "It's thanks to you that we at least have an idea what's going on." He said as Arsene also went back to his user's mind, not before bidding them good night.

"Well, yeah! After all, I'm very knowledgeable about the Metaverse and also smarter than Ryuji!" Morgana puffed up his chest in pride, with Akira chuckling at how cute he looked right now despite the cat showing his pride.

"Anyway, let's get to sleep. We can't have you be late." Morgana said as he curled up on top of Akira's stomach, the latter stroking him soothingly as sleep is gradually overcoming him.

"Believe me, I've long learned my lesson about that." He said before closing his eyes and succumbed to deep slumber.

Not before hearing a familiar female voice.

**I am thou, thou art I...**

**Thou hast acquired a new vow.**

**It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.**

**With the birth of the Magician Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power...**

Morgana watched the raven as he drifted off to sleep. The cat couldn't help but feel drawn to him, as if... he wanted to help Akira as much as he could, but he couldn't put a finger on it.

Morgana closed his eyes, shrugging off his thoughts for later.

Until his eyes suddenly snap open.

"I forgot to tell him about the infiltration tools!"

Surprisingly, neither Akira nor Arsene woke up from Morgana's loud meowing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Shinjiro is alive in this story, that also means Minako is here too. But unlike Minato, she isn't a Wild Card but she is still friends with Theodore. Her Persona is Orpheus Telos but with the female version of her.
> 
> (I made some minor edits) The other three active members Mitsuru was talking about is Akihiko, Aigis and Labrys.
> 
> Akira is like a detective in this story, hence the title.


	9. The Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this story, Persona-users can also hear Morgana.
> 
> I've noticed that I've been switching to Mr. Kamoshida and Kamoshida-sensei in the previous chapters so I'll just stick with "Mr."

"...ke...up..."

_*groan*_

"Wake up!"

Akira groaned again as he pull away the blanket from him. At the corner of his vision, Morgana was staring at him with his clear blue eyes.

"The alarm clock didn't wake you up." Morgana told him, pawing Akira's phone, "So I decided to do the honors."

The raven got up as he rubbed his eyes and scratched Morgana's ears and despite the latter's protests, he is shown to be enjoying it, even purring at the touch, "Thanks, Morgana. Strange... Arsene usually wakes me up when the alarm goes off."

 _"Hmm...? Did someone call my name...?"_ Arsene tiredly muttered.

"You just woke up?" Akira dryly asked. He got up and yawned, "...I'm gonna take a shower."

Morgana idly waited for Akira as he took a shower. He curled back up on the bed and yawned as Zorro's voice echoed in his mind.

 _"I did not expect what happened last night."_ The Persona said.

 _"Me neither."_  Morgana agreed, licking his paw,  _"I didn't know there were more Persona-users out there other than me and Akira."_

 _"Then again, we aren't sure about that due to your memory loss."_  Zorro replied.

_"Wait, are you saying... that there's a possibility that I met another Persona-user before I lost my memories?"_

_"Maybe."_

"..."

Morgana pondered it a bit. The very first Persona-user he met after his memory loss is Akira. But what if he knew another one before that? He closed his eyes and tried to retrace his memories.

...

Blue.

That was the first thing he ever remembered.

After that, he was in Mementos.

For some reason, he held vast knowledge regarding the Metaverse.

He didn't know where that knowledge came from.

He did a bit of exploring and somehow ended up in that castle.

He made it a goal to steal the Treasure.

But he ended up getting caught.

He can't tell how long he's been in that cell.

But the next thing he knew...

...He met Akira and Ryuji.

Suddenly, he felt someone softly tapping his head. He looked up and saw a worried-looking Akira, who is now in his school uniform.

"Trying to remember something?" He asked softly.

"Yep."

Letting out a sigh, Akira made his way to his still covered desk and pulled out a silver briefcase.

Morgana expected him to open it but instead Akira just slid it under his bed.

"What's in there?" Morgana asked in curiosity, leaning in.

Akira hesitated.

His Evoker is in there.

After what happened in the Palace the other day, he decided it would be better if he hid his Evoker when not in use for now.

Although, he's not sure how to explain it to Morgana.

"It's..."

"Hey, kid! Breakfast's ready!"

Sojiro's voice interrupted him. Mentally thanking his guardian, Akira pretended to have forgotten about what Morgana asked and went downstairs, with the cat following him, it seems he momentarily forgot as well.

Akira ate his curry (with Arsene commenting how delicious it is) and Morgana was given another dish for breakfast by Sojiro and he told Akira to buy some cat food for Morgana, which the raven is sure that the cat wouldn't like it. There are still some spare time before school starts so he focused his attention on the TV as he ate.

What he heard next after the weather news was not expected.

**"In other recent news, Tohru Adachi, a former law enforcement officer from the Inaba Police Department, was released this month."**

Akira stopped whatever he was doing and stared at the current news report wide-eyed. Morgana stopped eating as well and noticed the frizzy-haired boy's reaction and glanced at the TV, listening with interest.

**"Tohru Adachi was confirmed to have killed two people during his time in Inaba five years ago. The victims include Mayumi Yamano, a former TV announcer who was involved in a scandal with Taro Namatame, who is now currently the mayor of Inaba. And Saki Konishi, a former high school student who had discovered Mayumi Yamano's body. Many were shock when the court had declared his release. His former partner, Ryotaro Dojima, a police detective, has offered no comments on the matter."**

Morgana noticed that Akira was wearing a delightful smile and it didn't vanish even when he continued to eat his curry.

"They seriously let someone like that roam free?" Sojiro commented with a raised eyebrow, apparently not pleased that a murderer was released.

"Well, considering how much he changed, I can't say I'm that surprised." Akira said before taking the last bite.

 _"Aside from Magatsu-san."_  Arsene chuckled.

Sojiro turned around and noticed his smile, "...Do you know him?" He asked suspiciously.

"Yep." He nonchalantly revealed, which shocked both Sojiro and Morgana. He became aware of their surprised stares and decided to add one more thing, "You could say that we're... close acquaintances. I talked with him a lot when he was at Inaba."

"What...?" Sojiro was still in a state of shock. He knew he didn't know anything about the kid but he didn't expect to learn something like this, "So... do you visit him?"

"Usually when I have free time. But couldn't do it as often since I'm so busy." Akira explained and Sojiro took his finished dish, as well as Morgana's to the sink.

"What was he like?" The old man decided to ask as he washed the dishes.

"Oh, he's just bored the hell out of his mind." Akira answered, "Unlike the city, Inaba's a really quiet town back then. There's pretty much nothing for him to do there."

"Huh..."

Akira decided checked the time of his phone and saw that there's a long column of messages of Ryuji's rant about you-know-who.

"Well, time to go. See you later, Sakura-san." Akira opened his bag and let Morgana while Sojiro's back is turned.

"Kid, just call me Boss like everyone else." The old man told him, his tone sounding rather soft.

Akira smiled, "OK, see you later then, Boss."

* * *

"You sure know some interesting people." Morgana remarked, his head popping up a bit from the hole of the bag.

"Adachi-san's a Persona-user too, just so you know." He replied, making his way to the station. He sighed upon seeing the amount of people walking the same direction as him, he's gonna have to be fast to get a seat in the train.

Morgana nearly hopped onto his shoulder, "Seriously!?"

"Yep."

 _"What is his Persona like?"_  Zorro asks in curiosity.

 _"His name's Magatsu-Izanagi. He's always itching for a fight and he can be quite brutal."_ Arsene answered,  _"He's even more sadistic than us."_

Morgana and Zorro remembered how the two of them finished off the Shadows they fight. The cat could feel his Persona shuddering, which always reminded him to never mess with them.

 _"But Magatsu-san actually became more approachable, right?"_  Akira asked Arsene, remembering how Adachi's Persona gradually changed and how he seemed to talk to Arsene more,  _"I guess 5 years in prison made him pretty chill."_

Once Akira reached the station, he wasn't thrilled by the sight.

"Morgana, tell me when you can't breathe anymore, okay?"

Morgana wasn't happy about what's going to happen next.

* * *

"Did you see Mr. Kamoshida play yesterday? He was so awesome!" A slightly excited girl said to her friend.

Akira pinched the bridge of his notes. He was getting sick of hearing Kamoshida's undeserved popularity amongst the female population of the students, especially after knowing what he does to the female volleyball players.

"I think I might ask for his autograph after school." The same girl added cheerfully.

"I dunno if that's such a good idea..." Her rather nervous friend replied meekly, "I hear that you shouldn't go near the PE faculty office. People say you can hear weird sounds, like screaming, even though no one's there..."

The excited girl shrugged, not displaying any concern, "What? That's probably just a rumor spread by fans to scare the competition."

_"...Arsene."_

The gentleman thief mentally nodded,  _"Indeed. I think it'll be more efficient if I investigate while you're in class."_

_"Being invisible sure is convenient, huh?"_

_"You said it."_

Once Akira got to school, Morgana had noticed that Arsene had wandered off elsewhere.

"Where's he going?" The cat whispered, not wanting to get caught inside a bag.

"He's going to observe Kamoshida just in case that bastard does something incriminating." Akira replied as he put his shoes on his locker.

 _"Wouldn't it be better if I also aid him?"_  Zorro suggested.

"Hm, good idea. You good to go?" Akira asked and Zorro appeared nodding in confirmation as he followed to where Arsene had gone.

"You're checking to see if that rumor about the faculty office is real, right?" Morgana questioned.

"Yep, which I'm 99% sure it is."

"What the 1%?"

Even from the hole of the bag, the cat could see Akira's lips curling into a slight grin, "It means that the PE faculty office is haunted."

Morgana would have fallen from the bag if he isn't supposed to hide from everyone.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zorro stopped walking forward once he reached two path, one to the left hallway and the other is the staircase.

"Er... Where did Señor Arsene go to...?" He wondered to himself.

"Ahoy, mateys!"

He turned around and witnessed a certain skeleton pirate riding a boat flying towards him at a very fast pace.

* * *

Akira would have fallen asleep in class if that old Ushimaru isn't seemingly threatening him with a chalk while he's teaching. He could momentarily feel that teacher's gaze on him every now and then.

Thankfully, he felt his phone vibrating, snapping him wide awake. He opened his phone and was very careful not to get seen by his teacher or classmates.

**Ryuji: So about witnesses...**

**Ryuji: I was wondering if we could get something outta Takamaki.**

**Akira: Since she's with Kamoshida?**

**Ryuji: No, that ain't why.**

**Ryuji: Just hear me out.**

**Ryuji: You know how we didn't get a thing outta the volleyball team?**

**Ryuji: I figured it'd be a good idea to talk to someone who knows them.**

**Ryuji: Takamaki's BFFs with a starter. A girl named Suzui.**

**Ryuji: I tried to talk to that girl during break, but I got nothing.**

**Ryuji: That's why we should have Takamaki talk to her.**

**Ryuji: Then again, I guess it'll be hard getting her to help us...**

**Ryuji: Sorry. Lemme see what else I can come up with.**

"Let's tell him what we're planning to do later." Morgana whispered from under the desk.

"Sure."

* * *

"Zorro-san? Kidd-san?" Arsene phased through from the PE faculty office once he heard some loud noises and was a bit surprised to see his companions around the corner. He had been watching Kamoshida in the office. So far, nothing has happened since it's class time and all Kamoshida is doing is sorting something in his laptop, which Arsene assumed he was probably organizing the list of players. He was just thinking that he probably should've just done this after school, since that's where practice starts and the time where it's most likely he'll do something.

"Señor Arsene, there you are!" Zorro, looking a bit relieved, "I probably should have asked for directions earlier." He muttered.

"Aye... Found him lost on the first floor, mate. Didn't expect to see him here but I'll ask later... I got bored at that room Ryuji was in. I keep hearing the same numbers over and over again! I don't even know what 'Algebra' means!" Kidd blurted out, "So, Arsene, what are you doing here?"

"Waiting to see if that perverted bastard does something incriminating." Arsene informed him, tapping his bladed heel on the door of the faculty office, "He's in here."

"Arr, I'm so looking forward to zapping him fry with Zio!" Kidd exclaimed, holding out his gun-arm.

"Indeed. Although, I think he deserves more than just a Zio." Zorro added with the other two agreeing to his statement.

Arsene chuckled evilly, "I probably would have beheaded him with a guillotine and throw his head in the trash, since he is trash himself." The thief Persona suddenly got another idea, "Oh! An electric chair wouldn't be so bad too! Hearing him scream would be music to my ears!" He cheerfully suggested.

Zorro and Kidd looked at him rather fearfully, especially when they saw his flaring grin growing widely. The pirate leaned near Zorro a bit once Arsene phased back inside the faculty office, whispering.

"I feel like if turn my back, he'll suddenly hang me in the gallows." Kidd told him.

Zorro nodded in agreement, "Just don't get on his bad side."

"Damn it!"

The two heard an irritated voice loud thump from the office. They then phased through the wall, seeing Kamoshida break a few pencils and rip a a few paperwork as Arsene calmly watched from the side of the room.

"Why do I feel so pissed...?" Kamoshida muttered as he threw the broken pencils and shredded paper to the trash.

"I think he's irritated of what we did to his Palace yesterday." Arsene told them, "The thieves who messed in his castle got away scot free, of course the real self would've been pissed."

Kamoshida suddenly went quiet, fiddling with his fingers as he leaned his head on his hands, seemingly deep in thought.

"What's he planning now...?" Zorro wondered as he kept a close eye on Kamoshida.

The Personas went silent as Kamoshida let out a slight cackle, putting his hands behind his head, leaning backwards of his office seat.

"Hmm... Ann-chan would be a good stress reliever... Maybe I'll do it after school..." Arsene widened his eyes upon hearing that name, remembering the natural blond girl that is currently in Akira's class and is disgusted by what Kamoshida calls her name, "But if she refuses... I'll have to crack the whip on her best friend..." He wickedly muttered while licking his lips.

"Why, this leech...!" Kidd was about to smash Kamoshida to bits (all the while forgetting that he can't, or rather still haven't figure out how to physically touch things) until he was restrained by Zorro.

"Calm down, Señor Kidd!" Zorro held him back with his arms. The two eventually quieted down when they heard Arsene chuckling.

"Hehehe... We should let him enjoy his freedom while he still can." Arsene told them, gesturing that they should leave. As they phased through the wall and are on the way back to their users, Arsene was now deep in though, "Although, we should do something about what Kamoshida is planning to do after school..."

Zorro nodded, "Indeed."

"Tell me about it later!" Kidd said stopping once they reached the first classroom where Ryuji was in.

Arsene nodded before he and Zorro went back inside Akira's classroom.

* * *

_*Snap*_

During a 10 minute break from class, many students took a few steps back upon witnessing the infamous transfer student snap his pen in half due to gripping it too hard.

_"Akira, as much as I don't want to say this, calm down."_

_"I know."_  Akira pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"What are we gonna do!? We can't let that bastard do anything to Lady Ann!" Morgana quietly hissed.

 _"'Lady Ann'?"_  Akira raised an eyebrow. Come to think of it, Morgana did get infatuated with Kamoshida's version of Takamaki but... Whatever.

 _"How do we stop him?"_  Zorro asked.

"..." Akira held his chin, with Arsene, Morgana and Zorro waiting for him as he formulates a plan in his mind.

There is a high chance that Kamoshida may either call Takamaki in phone or in person after school but that depends whether or not she leaves early. However, even if he informed Takamaki about Kamoshida's intent, she would most likely wouldn't believe a warning coming from someone she barely even knew and would brush it off. There is also a matter regarding her close friend, Suzui as Ryuji called her. Under the assumption that Takamaki is being forced by Kamoshida, there's a chance that she might refuse. If she does however, Kamoshida would target her friend instead. He knew what that asshole is planning to do and didn't want to imagine it.

Who will suffer all depends on Takamaki's answer.

Akira then widened his eyes as a light bulb flashed above his head. Even Morgana seemed to notice this.

He's gonna have a talk with Ryuji at lunch.

* * *

"I'm gonna follow Takamaki after school?" Ryuji asked as he drank a soda from the vending machine as they discussed Akira's plan in the courtyard since it's lunch time. Their Personas proceeded to continue observing Kamoshida, just in case the latter might have a change of plans.

Akira had informed him about what the Personas had discovered in the PE faculty office and the fake blonde was more than ready to beat the shit out of Kamoshida if the raven hadn't restrained him.

"Make sure to inform me whether Kamoshida contacted her in person or phone, especially her answer to his advances. If she refuses, he's going to go after Suzui-san instead. That's why I'm going to stay after school to keep an eye on her."

"But what if Takamaki actually accepts?" Ryuji questioned. Although, he himself couldn't actually imagine Takamaki  _accepting_ Kamoshida.

"Drag her out of there and text me immediately. I'm having you keep an eye on her because you're more acquainted with her. There's no need to squeeze some information out of her, we're going to change Kamoshida's heart later."

"Huh? Change his heart?" Ryuji asked again, now confused by the sudden new topic.

"I'll tell you later at the Palace. Also, tell me. What does Suzui-san look like?" Akira asked.

"Well, she's got brown hair with a ponytail. She doesn't where her coat so I think she'll be easy to spot." Ryuji then grimaced when he remembered something, "She also got a bruise above her eye, which I'm pretty sure is from practice."

"I see."

"Can I ask one more thing?"

"What is it?"

Ryuji pointed at his slightly open bag, which housed a sleeping Morgana, "Is that... a cat?"

Even though it wasn't loud, that snapped Morgana awake, jumping from the bag onto the round table, "I'm not a cat!"

The blonde frantically stood up, shocked to see a cat talking, "What the—that voice! Morgana, is that you!?"

"Who else would it be!?" Morgana retorted before he began to lick his arm.

Ryuji turned to Akira, even more shocked to see him completely unfazed by what's happening in front of him, "Dude, you hearin' this, too!?"

Akira's eyes trailed to Morgana then to him, suddenly smiling, "Meow?"

"This ain't the time for jokes, man!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note:
> 
> • Personas can physically touch things in the real world by thinking that you can feel whatever it is you're touching (I hope you can understand this because I'm not too sure if I understand it myself since English isn't my first language).


	10. Blackmail Time

Akira wanted to get a bit of fresh air outside. He decided to let Morgana go with Ryuji, since the cat was very worried for the blond girl that he got infatuated with. The Personas came back earlier, informing them that Kamoshida has yet to change his mind, so the plan will still commence. He opened the glass door, noticing a brunette girl nearby.

"Huh?" Akira's mind clicked in remembrance, realizing that the girl's features are the same ones Ryuji described. He internally grimaced upon seeing the bruise above her eye, why hasn't she bandaged that yet?

_"This must be Suzui-san."_

Akira couldn't help but pity the abused girl, especially the frail state she's in. It reminded him of Mishima. Getting beaten up for no reason is surely extremely difficult for her to go through,  _"Poor girl..."_

"Oh... I'm in the way, aren't I? Sorry..." She apologized rather drearily.

Akira's more worried about her physical state than her being in the way, "Are you hurt?"

"Huh?" As if by instinct, Suzui immediately looked away and tried to cover her bandaged arms, "Um, well..." She ascended her lowered head, closely observing him, "Hm, you don't look familiar... Could you be that transfer student from Class D?"

Akira nodded in confirmation.

She grasped her arm, "Um, this might not be any of my business, but don't let the rumors get to you, OK...?"

Well, this is a surprise. She's not afraid of him?, "Why do you say that...?" He asks gently.

"Well, I've helped with a similar situation before..." Her expression pained, "My best friend is often misunderstood too, all because of her looks..."

 _"She must be talking about Takamaki-san."_ Arsene stated,  _"They treat her like an exotic object simply because she comes from a different lineage."_

"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to drag on like that." Suzui apologized again, "Anyway, I have to go to practice..."

"Are you sure about that?" Akira asks suddenly, which surprises her.

"Huh?"

Akira crossed his arms, Suzui noticed that his face had look of concern, "Just a friendly advice, but I don't think you should be going to practice in that state. Injuries on the head and arms are more than enough excuse."

"But, I..."

"Look, I'm not stopping you." The raven took a few steps forward and leaned his face near her ear, whispering, "...But you better watch out for Kamoshida later..."

"What?"

He then proceeded to walk away. When the frail brunette turned around, he was already gone.

"How did he...?"

Unbeknownst to her, the raven is still there, watching to make sure she's safe.

* * *

"Why are you here, anyway?" Ryuji asked Morgana, who is in his bag.

"I'm going to make sure Lady Ann is safe, obviously!" The cat hissed, his meows gathering a few attention of nearby people, who are wondering where the meows came from.

Ryuji had continued his role in the plan. So far, Takamaki immediately left after school due to a photoshoot but she left early for some reason.

Surprisingly, Ryuji has yet to be discovered, despite his loud mannerisms, and is starting to get reluctant to continue this due to being afraid of getting caught by someone and is going to be labeled as a 'stalker'.

He clamped Morgana's mouth shut, "Would you be quiet!?"

 _"That goes for you too."_  Zorro retorted.

 _"Aye, I'm surprised that you haven't been caught yet."_  Kidd added.

 _"Dude, aren't you supposed to be on my side!?"_  Ryuji mentally exclaimed.

"Will you please give it a rest!? I told you, I'm not feeling up to it..."

The fake blonde peeked from the corner, seeing that Takamaki, who looks a bit agitated, is on the phone with someone, whom he can easily assume who it is.

"Wait, what...!? That's not what you promised! And you call yourself a teacher!?" She yelled in surprised, "This has nothing to do with Shiho!—Ah..."

That asshole must have hanged up, Takamaki lowered to her knees and looked like she was about to cry.

"Shiho's... starting position..."

Ryuji immediately texted Akira about Takamaki's response, not entirely sure if it was a refusal or not.

"Lady Ann..." Morgana became saddened upon seeing her.

Ryuji felt the same way, so he made his way to Takamaki, awkwardly greeting her, "Uh... Hey."

"Sakamoto!?" Takamaki stood up in surprise, before her expression changed into a somewhat suspicious one, "Wait... Were you listening?"

"N-Not on purpose!" He stuttered, apparently giving it away with his response.

"Haven't you heard of privacy?" The natural blonde told him.

Ryuji stayed silent for a moment, wondering if he should tell her about what's happening.

Which he thinks she deserves to know.

"I gotta tell you something..."

* * *

Shit.

Akira had lost track of Suzui.

He had gotten a text from Ryuji about Takamaki's response, which he is sure would have made Kamoshida focus on Suzui next.

If only he hadn't bumped into the student council president right now he probably would have stopped Suzui from going near that asshole.

Nijima politely greeted him and asked the same questions as before, only with different wording. He knew she's suspicious of him, due to the rumors about him going around with Ryuji.

"May I also ask what are you still doing in school?" The question may sound a bit rude but Nijima said it as politely as she can, "I don't seem to remember you being in a club."

"Oh, it isn't that." Akira responded with an innocent smile that would hopefully rub him off of any suspicion, "I just forgot some of my notes back in the classroom."

"I see."

"I really have to get going or I'll get scolded." Akira said, pretending to look worried as he glanced at the time on his phone. Actually, he IS worried about Suzui right now.

"OK, I'm sorry to have taken up your time." She politely bowed.

"Thanks."

After parting ways with Nijima, Akira immediately bolted when he's finally out of sight, looking for Suzui. It's a good thing there aren't many students left, or else he probably would have heard a bunch of whispering by now. Crap, he probably should've told Arsene to follow her.

"Damn it, where is she!?" He quietly cursed under his breathe.

 _"Akira, Mishima's there!"_  Arsene told him.

Akira turned around and saw a familiar person with blue hair. Mishima was leaning onto the wall, for some reason, he looked extremely guilty and is on the verge of falling to his knees.

"Mishima-san!" The frail boy, turned to the left, seeing his new classmate make his way towards him, "Have you seen Suzui-san?"

Mishima's eyes widened upon hearing his question. What does Kurusu want with her?, "I-I..."

His delayed response convinced Akira that he knows her whereabouts, but why does he look so guilty? Did he do something?, "Where is she?" He asks seriously.

"S-She... She was called in by Mr. Kamoshida in the PE faculty office..." The boy stuttered hopelessly.

_"SHIT!"_

Akira didn't even managed to completely register Arsene's impatient yelling as he immediately bolted right towards the second floor. It was only a matter of seconds before he reached his destination and sure enough, he could hear voices inside, a bit muffled but clear enough to hear outside.

"Please, Mr. Kamoshida stop...!" From the tone of Suzui's voice, Akira assumed that she seemed to be struggling. He took out his phone and hit the record icon, pressing it flat to the door.

 _"Akira, what are you doing!?"_  Arsene asked confusedly, wanting to save Suzui-san as soon as possible.

"Wait..." He whispered.

"Quit talking back to me, you bitch!" Akira clenched his fist in anger at Kamoshida's insult directed towards the poor girl, "You should be glad that I even allowed you in the volleyball team! Garbage like you should just shut up and appreciate my kindness by coaching you talentless scrubs who are better off getting thrown in the trash!" He shamelessly said and Akira could hear a 'thud' inside, "That kind of attitude you're showing right now is why you get punished everyday. That's why your should just shut up and accept what's coming to you." What comes next is a wicked chuckle and he could hear Suzui gasp, "...Maybe I should get rid of your bra first? Or maybe the panties...?"

"S-Stop... please..."

 _"Okay, I think that's enough evidence."_ Arsene said impassively.

Akira smirked, "It's MORE than enough..."

The raven then kicked the door open.

* * *

"What the hell!?"

Akira quickly processed the scene before him in less than a second.

Suzui was on the ground along with her sweater, nearly topless and is only wearing her bra but to the raven's relief, her bottom has yet to be exposed, however, her right cheek was marked with a slight red color, that asshole must have slapped her. Her eyes are completely wet with tears that are still trailing down her cheeks, looking at him with shock as she immediately recognize him as the one who gave her the warning earlier.

His focused then trailed next to Kamoshida, who is wearing a scowl and looked like he was on the verge of exploding.

"What is the meaning of this, Kurusu!?" The so-called volleyball coach yelled.

Akira decided to push his anger on the back of his head and just proceeded to smile softly (much to Kamoshida and Suzui's confusion) and mockingly feigned innocence, "I should be asking you that, Mr. Kamoshida. This is quite a scene you're making here."

"Get out!"

"Sorry, but no can do." Akira held out his phone, playing the recorded audio just now. Fear and more anger erupted within Kamoshida upon hearing the audio and attempted to snatch the phone from the frizzy-haired teen's grasp but the latter was much faster, immediately placing the phone behind him, unfazed by how close Kamoshida is, "Geez, if I wasn't on probation right now I would have arrested you a long time ago."

 _"Arrest me? What the hell does this punk mean...?"_  Kamoshida (and pretty much everyone else) is completely oblivious to Akira's second occupation besides being an ordinary high school student.

The transfer student just continued smiling, "I wonder what would people say once they hear these words coming from a former gold medal Olympian...?" Akira mockingly said and his lips curled up into a devious smirk, "Sure, that principal would probably do everything to cover it up, but I do wonder how he will be able to do that, especially once this spreads throughout the internet. Not just the school website, just so you know."

The perverted bastard gritted his teeth, unsure how he's still able to hold himself back, "Give that to me... or else I'll—"

"'Expel you.'?" The raven let out a slight genuine chuckle, "Well, if you do that..." Kamoshida widened his eyes when he saw Akira held out his phone again, this time, his thumb is a few inches close to posting the audio, "You ruin my future, I ruin yours. An eye for an eye, wouldn't you say?"

"Why you little..." His fists are clenched so tightly, blood might threaten to spill.

"Anyway, let's just keep quiet of this event." The coach and the female player became shocked at those words, "However, you will no longer lay a single finger on Suzui-san nor Takamaki-san. They've suffered enough because of you."

"Who are you to tell me—!?" Kamoshida turned silent, seeing that the criminal transfer student threatening to press the post icon and he gritted his teeth, "Tch..."

Akira took a few steps towards the shocked yet extremely grateful girl, he picked up her sweater and gently helped her stand up. The position of his hand holding the phone remains unchanged, which is why Kamoshida couldn't make a move to snatch it. The raven silently guided Suzui to the door, he gave one last look at Kamoshida, his glare looking like he could pierce his skull.

"Though, I said that we both would keep quiet about this. I'm not sure you would be able to." At the mention of the last sentence, he slammed the door shut, leaving the perverted coach to tremble anger but also fear of what the raven is capable to do.

"That criminal trash...!"

* * *

_"Take that, asshole!"_

At Arsene's victory laugh, Akira had to stop himself from joining in with his Persona or else he would've looked crazy in front of Suzui.

Near the staircase, Akira decided to lend Suzui his blazer to cover her exposed top since she still looked shell-shocked by what just transpired and thus, couldn't normally move on her own.

Suddenly, she stopped walking, causing Akira to worry.

"...Thank you..."

"Huh?" Her voice was so quiet he couldn't quite hear it.

Akira had nearly stumbled backwards when Suzui suddenly tackled him, embracing him tight as she pressed her face on his chest, staining his sweater with her flowing tears.

"Thank you... Thank you so much..." She repeated the same words over and over again until her voice eventually broke into a muffled cry. He gently returned the gesture as he tenderly stroked the back of her head comfortingly, hoping she would soon calm down. She continued to weep and somehow, she temporarily lost her strength of her legs, causing her to drag the raven as they both fell to their knees.

 _"Thank god we noticed it beforehand."_ Arsene stated in relief.

_"Yeah..."_

"Akira!"

The raven turned his head and was surprised to see Ryuji (and Morgana, who is in his bag) and Takamaki, who became shocked when she saw the state her best friend is currently in.

"Shiho! What happened to you!?" Takamaki immediately knelt beside Suzui, who weakly faced her but still kept her hold on Akira.

"A-Ann...?" Soon, her hug loosened and she let go of her savior.

"What happened...?" Takamaki asked again as she turned to Akira.

"Basically, Kamoshida tried to do whatever he wanted to do to you to Suzui-san instead." He replied flatly, his response probably would've been more comical if it weren't for the tender moment they're having right now.

"You mean he—!? That bastard!" The blonde cursed as she hugged her friend, extremely relieved that her friend was saved.

"But it's okay. He wouldn't be able to lay a finger on you girls." Ryuji and Takamaki raised an eyebrow at his implication and he took out his phone, playing his blackmail material.

"I told him I'll spread this all over the internet if he didn't agree to my demands." The raven explained as he put away his phone.

"You... blackmailed Kamoshida...?" Takamaki was flabbergasted and nearly speechless.

"Yep."

"Holy shit, dude." Ryuji finally spoke up and wore the biggest grin Akira ever saw on him, "That. Is. EFFIN' AWESOME!"

 _"Aye, I can imagine the look on that scumbag's face!"_  Kidd agreed enthusiastically.

 _"Indeed. That was quite a bold move."_  Zorro as well.

"Thanks." Akira smiled and slightly blushed at their compliments. He could see Morgana snickering at his embarrassment but gave him an approving look. He soon stood up and adjusted his bag, ready to leave, "Anyway, we should go home now. It'll be tiresome if anyone saw us."

"B-But, what about your blazer?" Suzui unsteadily stood up with help from her best friend. She was gripping his blazer rather tightly.

"Don't worry, I have a spare." Akira turned to the natural blonde, "Takamaki-san, can you take Suzui-san home?"

She nodded, "Of course. Come on, let's go, Shiho." She gently grabbed Suzui's arm.

The frail girl seemed very hesitant to leave but ultimately decided to follow her best friend, not before giving her savior one last grateful bow, "Again, thank you so much. I'll return it to you tomorrow..."

"Um, OK. Just avoid any contact with Kamoshida from now on." Akira told her.

Takamaki smiled, "You don't need to tell us twice."

The two boys watched the girls leave, Morgana hopped off of Ryuji's back and stretched as their Personas appeared before them.

"Ugh, Ryuji's bag is even more cramped!" Morgana told Akira as the latter opened his bag, letting him in.

"He also has rather strange items inside." Zorro informed them, much to Ryuji's embarrassment.

"Dude, you don't need to tell them!"

"What items?" Arsene asks in curiosity.

"Well, it's—" Zorro was cut off by Kidd who was laughing heartily.

"Those lasses in those thin books sure are  _fine_!"

"OK, we get the picture." Akira deadpannedly said, "Anyway, sorry Ryuji. Looks like we can't go to the Palace today."

The fake blonde shook his head reassuringly, "Nah, it's cool. Anyway, wanna go get somethin' to eat?"

"Sure. Hey, Morgana?"

"What is it?" He poked his head out of the bag.

"Do you like sushi?"

Unbeknownst to any of them, Mishima was watching them ever since Akira and Suzui got out of the office. He is very relieved that Suzui is fine but also felt awe towards Akira due to his bold action to protect someone he barely even knew.

"Kurusu-san..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave a review. :)


	11. The Hermit's Observation

Akira Kurusu is interesting.

That much is for certain.

She felt extremely grateful when Sojiro came for her rescue once he found out how she's doing.

In return, she bugged his whole cafe.

Okay, that sounded so wrong.

She did it when she first came to his cafe (without his knowledge), and bugged the entire place when Sojiro went for groceries. It was scary but she did it for Sojiro's safety.

However, despite that, she just ended up closing on him like the rest of the world.

She did open up a little, like making phone calls and all that, but not to the point where she would open her door and face him directly.

It was all her fault.

After two years, she is still in her room.

Nothing changed.

Except something piqued her interest at the beginning of April.

Sojiro had taken in a teenage boy named Akira Kurusu.

He didn't tell her so much of the details but she decided to hack her way through it.

What she found was interesting.

The kid that Sojiro took in had a criminal record! But the contents of his case were strange. First of all, the identity of the victim was completely wiped clean with no traces. The second one was there was no motive for the so-called assault. So either the raven himself was falsely accused and this is a bullshit case or it really did happened and the police were just being really secretive of what happened.

It's when she found out there was totally something... off about that guy.

At first glance, he looked like someone who wouldn't kill a fly.

Empty and blank is the best she could describe his mannerisms.

Ever since he arrived in the attic, she kept a close watch on him to see if he does anything strange.

In fact, he  _did_.

But it wasn't anything bad or illegal shit but what he did made her question his mental capacity.

He was talking to  _no one_.

At first, she thought he was just voicing his thoughts out loud but when he said the name "Arsene" while staring into space, she is 99% positive that he has a screw loose.

All of that changed after he came back from his first day of school.

When he came back to the cafe, looking like he just got hit by a truck, he pulled out his laptop (Wait, isn't that the newest model!? She wanted that so bad!) and plugged in some earphones, which, unfortunately, resulted in her not being able to hear who he was talking to through chat.

However, she listened intently on his side of the conversation after hearing him say the name "Mitsuru".

Mitsuru...

Isn't that the name of the head of the Kirijo Group?

She was also her mother's friend.

The raven then said he had something to report to her and that's when her image of him being a quiet and meek student was shattered.

The things he talked about was absolutely interesting and baffling, sounding unreal. A Castle, Personas and Shadows? What the hell are those? But also an app that took them to a different reality?

Also, what shattered her image of him was the way he reported to her about it. He sounded so... serious. He looked like a different person especially without those glasses of his.

This story isn't finished.

On the second day, when the raven came back (looking even more exhausted than the day before), he did the same routine and did a continuation of his report.

That's when it hit her.

All this talk about a world that represents the human mind as well as cognitive beings is very similar to the contents of her mother's research.

Could they be related...?

There was another thing that was about that Shujin Academy that piqued her interest.

Maybe she could contact him.

Wait, no. She couldn't even talk to Sojiro directly! How could she...

...

She could use her alias.

But she'll need to gather more info before making her decision.

* * *

_"Whoever you are... You're a freaking pervert for watching everything I do 24/7."_

"Who the hell are you calling a pervert!?" She screamed.

In the next moment, the screen that was monitoring the attic became covered with static.

How the hell did he even notice that small-ass camera!?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that some of you might be wondering about the pairings. I'm thinking about AkiraXLavenza (since the latter is so cute!), though I might alter her appearance to be the same age as Futaba. Why? Because the FBI might arrest me.
> 
> Feel free to leave a review. :)


	12. The Files

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if the dialogue might be a little off ('cause I did this at freaking 2:00 in the morning cause I COULDN'T SLEEP!)

He thinks he can cut her off by removing the camera?

Heh. Two can play at that game.

"Hehehehe..."

She began typing out the numbers.

* * *

"...You're late. Where have you been?" Sojiro asked suspiciously once Akira got back to the cafe, apparently not wearing his blazer.

"The trains were delayed." Akira simply replied.

"Don't gimme those lies." The old man eyed him sternly, "And where's your blazer?" He asked, wondering if the kid got himself into trouble that was going to get him arrested again.

"Lost in during gym class." The raven shrugged, as if not caring, "Someone probably took it by mistake. It wasn't there anymore when I checked my locker."

Sojiro still wasn't sure about that excuse but eventually decided to place it aside, "...By the way, you haven't been hanging around any bad influences, have you?"

"I actually made a friend." Akira said with a smile, obviously referring to his delinquent friend.

The old man's expression softened and it seemed to piqued his interest, "Huh. They've gotta be pretty strange to want to spend time with you."

 _"Ryuji's already pretty strange."_  Arsene amusingly commented and Akira had to bite back his chuckle.

"Just make sure you're careful who your friends are, if you don't want them ruining your life." He sternly told him as he glanced at the clock nearby and yawned, "Look at the time. Seriously, think about how I feel having to stay up here waiting for you."

"Sorry."

Sojiro stood up from his seat and Akira was about to walk upstairs until the old man stopped him in his tracks.

"By the way, some people came by earlier, saying they were your friends." Akira looked back, seeing Sojiro getting something behind the counter and handed him a black USB flash drive, "They wanted to give you this."

"Thanks." Akira took the USB and placed it inside his pocket. It was most likely Yu and Naoto who came by. He's pretty sure they also took a taste of the curry and coffee since he's been recommending Leblanc to them recently.

Sojiro looked at him with suspicion again, well, Akira couldn't blame him, some detectives just came by and left him with something to give to a student on probation. The old man is also probably wondering the contents of the flash drive, which contains the list of victims of the mental shutdown incidents.

After a few seconds of silence, Sojiro sighed.

"In the future, try not to come back so damn late. Understood?"

Akira nodded in understanding as he went back up stairs, with Morgana jumping out of the bag and landing straight onto the bag and their Personas appeared.

"What a day..." Morgana commented as he scratched his ear.

"Yeah..." Akira yawned as he put his bag on his desk and pulled out his laptop. He took out his USB and plugged it in once the screen is on.

"What's that?" Morgana asked, referring to the USB.

"It's a flash drive." Does Morgana not know about this stuff?, "It's a data storage device. The files that I requested yesterday is in here."

"You mean about the victims of the mental shutdowns?" Akira nodded.

Once he opened the files, he grimaced at the amount of victims. He didn't expect that there would be so many of them. This is way too unnatural to be stress-related incidents. Maybe Arsene was right. Maybe someone is causing the mental shutdowns.

Morgana was eyeing the flash drive with interest and began fiddling with its cap until he noticed something inside.

"Hey, there's a piece of paper here." Morgana pushed the cap to him.

"Huh?" Akira took the cap and took out the paper, a note maybe? He unfolded it and read it.

**To Akira Kurusu,**

**I have also added the list of suicide victims starting from two years ago in the files.**

**This is due to the fact that most of the mental shutdown victims have died from suicide.**

**P. S.**

**The curry and coffee were delicious. I will drop by again in Leblanc soon.**

**Sincerely,**

**Naoto Shirogane.**

Morgana heard Akira snort as he folded the paper and placed it on his desk, his smile showing on his face.

"Was there something in that paper?" Zorro asked in curiosity.

Akira chuckled, "Oh, it's nothing."

He went back to browsing the documents.

It's difficult to pinpoint a specific file since he doesn't have any leads, but he decided to choose the closest one he knew just recently.

The guy from the subway accident.

From what he heard, the conductor had lost it, which turned out to be true. The poor guy had suffered a psychotic breakdown and was unable to properly communicate during interrogation. Currently, he is confined at the hospital along with most of the victims from the accident.

The next part was strange.

Reports say that he looked healthy days before the accident, no signs of any diseases or unnatural behavior, except for work-related stress. A colleague of his had mentioned that he had acted strange at the day of the accident, saying that he was unresponsive and looked rather limp.

In the end, no one knew the real cause of his condition.

"Who's that?" Morgana asked, looking at the profile picture of the burly-looking conductor.

"The conductor of the subway accident." Akira replied, focusing heavily at the screen in front of him, "He suffered a psychotic breakdown and no one knew the cause."

"Strange..." The swordsman Persona commented.

He pressed the "x" icon of the document and began to search for another one.

He began to dwell deep in his thoughts as he continued to scroll down the documents.

The mental shutdowns...

_"They're so similar..."_

"To the Apathy Syndrome?" Arsene finished his line of thought, but is looking at the screen.

"Yep."

"Apathy Syndrome?" Morgana asked, appearing a bit loss.

The raven stopped scrolling, "It happened back in 2009 at Tatsumi Port Island. Those suffering from the syndrome suffer from debilitating levels of apathy. When it strikes the inflicted will collapse in a heap where ever they happen to be and become unable to move, feed, or care for themselves." Akira grimly explained.

"What...?" Morgana was at loss for words.

"It's also known publicly as the Mass Lethargy Syndrome, it has affected a large number of people who ended up in a coma and hospitalized." Arsene added, his information coming from Naoto Shirogane's words.

Akira shifted from his bed, "The cause of the Apathy Syndrome is also part of the reason why I think the mental shutdowns might be connected to the Metaverse."

"The cause?" Zorro asked.

Akira let out a sigh before he finally decided to answer, "The Apathy Syndrome is a result of having one's psyche eaten by Shadows."

That took the cat and his Persona even more by surprise.

"Wait, what!? The Shadows eat people's psyche!?" The cat exclaimed.

"However, the Apathy Syndrome had nothing to do with the Metaverse." Arsene told them.

"Why is that?" Zorro asked.

Akira closed his laptop for a bit and stared at his cat, giving him a look that wanted some answers.

And he is going to give it to him.

"In 2009, there was a supernatural phenomenon that has lasted for 10 years, it occurs at exactly 12:00am and serves as the 25th hour hidden between one day and the next."

Morgana and Zorro are listening.

"That phenomenon is called the 'Dark Hour'. It lasts for an hour and normal people are unaware of its existence. During that time, the sky turns green, normal people transmogrify into coffins and become oblivious to what is happening, every liquid substance, including the ocean, turn into blood."

Morgana grimaced while Zorro winced.

"Shadows become active during the Dark Hour and attempt to lure humans out of their coffins in order to feed on their psyches, afflicting them with the Apathy Syndrome."

"What happens if they survive without being attacked by a Shadow?" Morgana asked.

"They just lose their memories instead." Arsene told him.

Akira continued, "Only those with the potential to summon a Persona are able to stay fully active during to Dark Hour and resist shadow attacks; even if they sleep, their bodies will not transmogrify, and will retain their memories."

"So, wait." Morgana stopped him for a moment, "Since the Dark Hour is just a hidden hour, does that mean the Shadows appear in the real world!?"

"...Yes."

"So, is it still...?" Zorro was hesitant to ask this one.

"Nope." Arsene shook his head, "It disappeared at the beginning of 2010."

"..."

Akira clearly remembered that rather strange night. I mean, who would seriously expect to see a freaking large red eyeball above Tartarus and then suddenly destroyed along with the tower at the beginning of the year?

"But, why didn't you tell this to Mitsuru last time?" The cat asked, remembering that the raven never mentioned this to the redhead.

The frizzy-haired boy didn't even look at him, "I'm pretty sure she already noticed the similarities but I..." He trailed off.

"We weren't sure how to bring it up to her." Arsene told them.

"What do you mean?" Zorro asked.

"I'll tell you once I have more free time." Akira told his cat, patting his head, "It's kind of a long story."

"You mean  _really_  long." Arsene amusingly quipped and Akira chuckled as he opened his laptop again.

"Anyway, where were we?" The raven muttered, "...Hm?"

"What is it?" Morgana asked, leaning by his side to get a better view of the screen.

He opened each and every one of the files he sees.

"These victims... most of them are either workers or influential people." Akira muttered.

"If someone truly is causing these incidents, what will they benefit from it?" Zorro wondered.

That is a good question.

Akira proceeded to look further in the files.

He noticed that most of the people he looked are either politicians or employees.

Some of these people seemed familiar.

Come to think of it, there are recent rumors about Okumura Foods having less and less competitors.

These employees... they belong to the rival companies that opposed the Okumura Foods.

And the politicians, they seem to be higher-ups from the current government.

Wait.

Competitors?

"What's wrong?" The cat asked, seeing his owner's widened eyes.

"Most of these people are higher-ups or employees from different institutions with rival companies." Akira explained, "Plus, when I was at Mitsuru-san's office, I've heard some rumors about the rivals of Okumura Foods are going down at a fast pace lately." Akira leaned back, crossing his arms.

"What about the subway accident, then?" Morgana asked, "The conductor was the victim, right? What's the point in that?"

"Hmm..." Akira opened his internet browser on his laptop and searched for the casualties of the subway accident.

And he found something interesting.

"...A president of a trading company as well as a diplomat who sided with the government..."

"What does these all mean...?" Morgana wondered.

"I can think of a few possibilities." Arsene said.

"What about the government?" Zorro asked, "Do they have any opponents?"

"..." Akira thumbed his chin, deep in thought, "There is that campaign with Masayoshi Shido..." He slightly gritted his teeth upon remembering that stubborn politician. He's one of the reasons why Mitsuru can't get enough rest lately.

"Ugh..."

He slightly gripped his head once pain had momentarily overcame his mind. It seems Arsene is the same way, he saw his Persona grip his head the same way he's doing.

This did not go unnoticed by the other two, who were looking at them with worry.

Morgana tugged at his shirt, "Come on, let's get to sleep. It's already past 10:00."

The raven seemed hesitant but complied, "...Yeah." He closed his laptop, "Alright."

* * *

"Huh, well this is new." Said the young girl with long hair, staring at her phone with interest.

Good thing she hacked his phone a few days ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if there are any grammar mistakes but I'm just a little tired lately because of school. I usually write my drafts in class (I'm surprised my teacher still hasn't caught me yet lol)
> 
> Reviews are greatly appreciated. :)


	13. Infiltration

Is it just her or does Mr. Kamoshida seem... agitated lately...?

That's what Makoto Nijima thought when she passed by him this morning.

She continued to watch him outside from the student council room.

Mr. Kamoshida wasn't wearing his usual cheerful smile that was used to greet everyone. From close observation, he seemed wary somehow, as if looking for someone.

She noticed a change in his expression when the girl of rumors, Ann Takamaki, and her best friend from the volleyball team, Shiho Suzui, came near the front gate.

The coach looked at them with a rather neutral expression and the blonde immediately placed herself in front of Suzui, who seemed to be shivering in fear.

Nijima also noticed that Takamaki is looking at Mr. Kamoshida with a glare that looked like could pierce his skull.

Did something happened?

As she wondered what could have happened between the girls and the coach, someone she didn't expect arrived at the scene.

It was the infamous transfer student.

Sakamoto is also with him.

The two boys stood in front of the girls and Sakamoto looked like he was ready to punch his face. The transfer student was talking with Mr. Kamoshida in a friendly matter.

Nijima raised an eyebrow when she saw the expression of the coach that was directed towards the transfer student.

Mr. Kamoshida looked ready to explode, his clenched fists were shaking uncontrollably.

The raven's smile only widened as he let his friends proceed into the building first. The transfer student gave one last glare to the coach before he followed the other three.

"What in the world...?"

* * *

"Thanks a lot, Kurusu-kun." Takamaki smiled gratefully at him.

The raven waved his hand in assurance, "Eh, don't mention it."

"Damn~!" Ryuji exclaimed happily, grinning as he put his hands on the back of his head, "I'm never gonna forget that look on his face!" Kidd was laughing hysterically when the latter remembered.

Akira turned to Suzui, who was holding his neatly folded blazer, "Here's your blazer... Um, thank you for lending it to me." She thanked him rather shyly.

"Er, thanks." Akira took the blazer and placed it inside his bag (with Morgana having to scoot aside to give it some space). Once he had fully put it in, the school bell rang and many of the students had begun going to their respective classrooms.

"Hey." Akira whispered to Ryuji's ear while the girls remained distracted, "I'll tell you what we're going to do at the Palace during lunch."

The fake blonde nodded, "At the rooftop, yeah?" Akira confirmed.

"I guess I'll see you later." Suzui said, looking a lot more calm now, much to Akira's internal relief.

"Yeah, see ya."

* * *

Akira had forgotten that he and Takamaki shared the same classroom. She smiled at him before she sat down. Currently, they are waiting for their boring social studies teacher, Ushimaru.

Out of boredom, their Personas appeared right in front of them, and Akira had to focus hard on not to look at the supernatural beings.

"Hey, Morgana-san." Arsene called, "May I clarify something?" Akira became focused at his Persona as he waited.

"What is it?" Morgana whispered, careful not to let his meows be heard by anyone in the classroom.

"This 'Treasure' you speak of. Could this be the source of the person's desires?" The thief asks.

"That's right." Morgana confirmed, though was a bit disappointed since he was planning on explaining everything to them once they found it.

"So that's why it will heavily affect Kamoshida if stolen." Arsene crossed his arms as Ushimaru came inside, sternly commanding the class to be quiet, "Ugh, I wish that sengoku nutjob was here instead."

"Who?" Zorro asked, though the questioned was left unanswered.

 _"Arsene, why don't you two kill some time for a bit?"_  Akira suggested, taking out his notes,  _"No matter how much I hate it, I still gotta focus on this guy's lesson."_

"Oh, right, sorry." Arsene, followed bg Zorro, went outside the classroom (by phasing through the wall), "Hmm..."

"Where do you plan on going?" Zorro asks, still planning on following him.

"The rooftop. I wanted to get some fresh air." Arsene said, floating above, before taking a glance at Zorro, who remains still while staring at him, "What is it?"

"...I can't fly." The swordsman responded flatly.

"Oh, just take the stairs then."

* * *

A few minutes later, Zorro finally arrived at the rooftop, seeing Arsene watching a curly-haired girl tending the plants.

"So she's the one tending the flowers..." Arsene commented, "I thought it would be one of the teachers or something..."

"She also seems to be proficient in gardening."

Eventually, the girl exited the rooftop once she was done tending the plants. They stayed silent for hours as they relaxed. Arsene was gazing at the city view while leaning onto the wall behind him. Zorro, on the other hand, had his eyes closed, seemingly meditating.

The gentleman thief was starting to feel a bit sleepy, only for his drowsiness to shatter when Zorro suddenly spoke up.

"Señor Arsene. I've been wondering about this for a while." Zorro spoke in a slight undertone, "How long since you have awakened?"

Arsene hummed, "About... 4 years."

_"That's even longer than I originally thought..."_

"Was his awakening the same as Señor Ryuji?" Zorro pressed further.

"Yep." Arsene told him, still keeping his eye on the city.

The swordsman noticed that Arsene doesn't seem to have much interest talking about it (either that or he can assume that he is still a bit sleepy) so he decided to drop the subject.

"Did Señor Akira got any more ideas regarding the mental shutdowns?"

"A few. But I noticed something when he was mindlessly scrolling the files." Arsene said, now looking at him, "I forgot to bring it up before he went to sleep. And it slipped from my mind this morning."

"What was it?" Zorro became curious, what did Arsene notice?

"It's—"

His statement was interrupted when the bell rang loudly, almost startling the two Personas. They decided to wait for their users to come here since this is where they're going to meet up.

"Ahoy!" Suddenly, Kidd phased through the wall and his boat crashed onto Zorro, who was nearly sent flying.

"Zorro-san!" Arsene exclaimed in shock before turning to Kidd, "Kidd-san! What's with you!?"

"Aye, I just got a little excited." Kidd scratched his head.

"Urg, this is the second time..." Zorro muttered as he got up.

"When was the first time?" Arsene asks in curiosity.

"Yesterday." Both Zorro and Kidd replied.

"Oh."

The door of the rooftop swung open, with Akira and Ryuji arriving.

"What's wrong, Señor Akira?" Zorro noticed that he looked like he just ran more than 100 laps.

Akira shook his head, "That old guy's just repeating the same thing over and over again. I already know what judiciary means!"

"Dude, just be glad that Ushimaru isn't your homeroom teacher." Ryuji said, "Believe me, that guy's worse."

"Uh, you two do remember what we're here for, right!?" Morgana hopped out of Akira's bag and landed on the table.

"We never forgot." Akira deadpanned.

"So, what's this about the Palace?" Ryuji sat on the chair and placed his feet on the table.

"Time for an explanation..."

* * *

Ryuji shot up from the chair, "Dude, what!? He might die!?"

"I don't really mind, actually." Kidd crossed his arms.

"That's not the point!" Ryuji told his Persona before turning back to the others, "If we did something like that, we'd be no better than that effin' Kamoshida!"

"We know. That's why we're going to make sure he doesn't die." Arsene replied.

"Why are you so into this?" Ryuji asked Akira. Due to spreading his criminal record and nearly raping Suzui, Ryuji could see why Akira would want to do something like risk that coach dying. But what if there was another reason for it?

"I need to do this if I want to know more about the Metaverse and its effects on people." Akira reasoned.

"What are you, some kinda investigator or something?"

Akira and Arsene looked at each other for a moment, "That's... actually yeah, right."

"Wait, really?" Ryuji didn't expect that kind of answer.

"Well, yeah. But that's all I can tell you." Akira checked the time on his phone, "Let's meet later at the alleyway outside of school at dismissal."

Unbeknownst to any of them, a certain blonde girl was listening on their conversation. Once the bell rang, she immediately descended downstairs, not wanting to get caught.

* * *

"They're planning something against... him?" Suzui asked worriedly.

The two best friends were both in the women's restroom, fortunately, there weren't any other girls inside as they are all currently going back to their classrooms.

"They said something about changing his heart or something..." Takamaki explained. She also remembered hearing some cat noises too. Could it be that rumored cat?

"Change... his heart...?" Suzui is a bit uncertain whatever that meant. She noticed her friend was adopting a serious demeanor, "Ann, what's wrong?"

"If it's something that'll make Kamoshida suffer, then they  _have_  to let me be part of it." She declared, "After what he tried to do to us. I can't let him do what he wants anymore!"

Suzui did a bit of thinking. Sure, she was still afraid of him, especially after his... attempt. But she also felt immense anger because of it. She gritted her teeth, realizing that she wanted revenge just as much as her best friend.

"Me too." Her sudden seriousness surprised Takamaki, "I can't let this go on anymore. Not just for me, but also for everyone's lives he ruined because of his goddamn ego!"

Well, Takamaki went from surprised to shocked. Her friend very rarely cursed, but Takamaki knew Suzui is at the very edge of her patience. But still, that is so like her, especially when her friends, or even acquaintances, are involved.

"Let's see what they're doing afterschool. Kurusu-kun said that they'll be outside of school." Takamaki informed her.

Suzui nodded in understanding before they both exited the restroom and went back to their respective classes.

* * *

Akira and Ryuji immediately went to the alleyway before most of the students left. Thankfully, they didn't get much attention went they exited the school. The raven also didn't notice Takamaki's suspicious gaze when he got outside the classroom, though.

"The moment we cross over, we'll treat each other like phantom thieves, so I hope you're ready." Morgana told them.

Arsene chuckled, "I like the sound of that."

"Huh? Phantom thieves?" Ryuji questioned.

"Those who covertly sneak in and stylishly steal Treasure—that is what we become!" Morgana enthusiastically said.

"I love it." Akira smirked.

Ryuji grinned in excitement, "That sounds kinda cool!"

Kidd laughed, "Time to get some booty!"

Ryuji took out his phone, "So we just gotta say the school, Kamoshida's name, and... castle? Then we end up in bizarro world." He then began to wonder, "How the hell's all this work? Someone make it?"

"Where did that app come from, then?" Zorro questioned.

"I dunno, it just suddenly appeared on my phone."

"It doesn't matter right now." Akira felt like this wouldn't be the right time to tell them why.

"It's kinda creepy, but eh, it seems useful enough." Ryuji said and rolled his shoulders as his expression became determined, "We'll show that effin' Kamoshida!"

"Let's go!" Morgana declared.

* * *

"What in the world are they planning...?" Suzui whispered quietly. She and Ann were at the corner of the wall, spying on them.

"They really are going to do something..." Takamaki added, "They're doing something on their phone? A name... School...?"

"Huh!?"

Suddenly, black and red ripples clouded their vision.

* * *

"All right! Time to bust on through!" Ryuji loudly declared.

"What is this!?"

The thieves turned to the entrance of the Palace and, much to their shock, saw Takamaki and Suzui eyeing the twisted place in shock and fear.

"T-Takamaki!?" Ryuji exclaimed in shock.

They looked at them in shock, wondering why they are wearing such strange (yet cool) outfits, with Suzui the first one being able to voice her words, "That voice... Sakamoto!? And... are you Kurusu-kun!?"

Takamaki became terrified almost to no end when she noticed the Personas, "AH! What are those things!?"

"It is a pleasure to meet you, young Señoritas. We are Personas." Zorro calmly explained. Kidd and Arsene looked at him with deadpanned looks.

"Mate, now is not the time for that." Kidd said.

"Per... sonas?" Suzui absentmindedly repeated. She's a bit scared like her best friend but her mind was also filled with wonder at the supernatural beings in front of them.

"A-Anyways, why are you two here!?" Ryuji asked loudly.

"How should we know!?" Takamaki retorted, "What's going on? Hey, where are we...!? Isn't this the school!?"

"Be quiet, you two!" Akira hushed, looking around to see if there are any Shadows in the vicinity, which thankfully, there weren't. He had also noticed Morgana's reaction upon seeing Takamaki and gave him a deadpanned look for it, which the feline noticed and coughed in embarrassment.

"I see. Perhaps she was dragged in because of that app thing." Morgana speculated.

"...Then that means..." Akira came to a realization and thumbed his chin, "If multiple people can enter with the person who uses it, it stands to reason it'll pull anyone nearby."

"So that's why Ryuji was able to come to the Metaverse even though he himself has never personally used the app on his phone." Arsene muttered.

"For real...?" Ryuji uttered.

"Wait." The thieves' eyes trail back to the two girls, especially Takamaki who let out a question with a stupefied face, "So THIS is related to Kamoshida!?"

"What is this place, anyway?" Suzui asked, who looked a lot more calm than Takamaki.

"Anyways, you gotta leave!" Ryuji yelled at them.

Ann stomped her feet, "No!"

"The Shadows are going to find us if you make a scene." Morgana softly warned them.

Takamaki took a step back in fear upon noticing the anthropomorphic cat, "No way! It talked!? Oh my god, it's a monster cat!"

Morgana widened his eyes in shock upon her first reaction of him, "Monster...?" Akira reached out and comforted him by scratching his ears, which, as always, caused him to purr under his touch.

Suzui, however, was a different story.

Her face brightened up like a child seeing their favorite mascot, "It's so cute!"

"Well, at least that's a first." Zorro commented.

"You better explain what's going on! I won't leave until you do!" Takamaki screamed.

"Crap, she's as loud as Ryuji right now." Kidd said, earning a "Hey!" from Ryuji.

Ryuji sighs exasperatedly, "Looks like we gotta force them. But how're we supposed to do that?"

"Let's just take them back to where we came in." Akira told him, "That's how it always worked for us, right?"

"O-Oh, yeah."

"Can you lend me a hand?" Akira nodded and they both looked at the two girls in sync, which caused them to raised their eyebrows.

"What're you—"

"We'll explain after everything's over!" And with that, Ryuji began to push Takamaki back to where they came from.

Akira was more gentle with Suzui (who slightly blushed upon contact) and pushed her lightly, "We're sorry, Suzui-san. Please understand, this place is too dangerous for you two."

"B-But..." She couldn't make a retort since she herself doesn't know anything about this place compared to him. But she wanted to ask more questions.

"Hey! And just where are you touching!?" They heard Takamaki scream.

"Whoa, sorry, I didn't mean—" Ryuji looked back, seeing that the other thieves and Personas, including Kidd and Suzui, were looking at him with disappointed looks, "It's not on purpose, okay!?"

"You guys seriously—Ah!" Takamaki then disappeared into the portal.

She was the followed by Suzui, "Eek!"

Ryuji sighs in relief as he walks back to the group, "We better be careful from now on when we use that app..."

"You should've checked the tools you used!" Morgana reprimanded, "Why do I—the one who was just watching—know more about it than you two!?"

"Sh-Shuddup!" Ryuji pathetically retorted before crossing his arms, "Geez, Takamaki found out right when we were startin' off... We gotta deal with this fast!"

Akira agreed, "Yeah."

 _"And I'm sure that Mitsuru-san wouldn't be happy once she learns that normal people found out about this."_  Arsene quipped and Akira sighed, his Persona's right about that.

"Those girls' names are Ann Takamaki and Shiho Suzui, right?" Morgana suddenly asked, looking a bit dreamily, "Lady Ann... and Lady Suzui..."

"So, for Takamaki-san, it's her looks while for Suzui-san, it's because she called you cute, right?" Akira joked.

Morgana hopped and his cheeks flushed, "I-It's not like that!"

"You face says it all, cat." Kidd said.

"I'm not a cat!"

* * *

"The Shadows have noticed us. You better brace yourselves, got it?" Morgana warned once he saw a few knights patrolling the gate of the castle, "I can sense that the security level is higher than usual."

"Guess he's still pissed." Arsene quipped.

The feline turned to Akira, "We're counting on you,  **Joker**!"

Wait... what?

Turning to the two more experience combatants, Zorro saw Arsene flinch at the sudden nickname his used gave to Akira, who seemed to be growing pale.

Before any of them could speak up, Ryuji voiced his question in wonder, "Joker? That a nickname?"

Morgana's ears twitched and hopped slightly, "Don't refer to it in such a lame way. It's a code name. What kind of stupid phantom thief would use their real name!? I'm not down for that! And there's no telling what kind of effect yelling our real names will have on the Palace... It's just a precaution."

"...There may be a possibility that Kamoshida might subconsciously antagonize us more in the real world once he is aware that we're snooping inside his heart." Arsene theorized. He turned to his user worriedly, who still looked wide-eyed,  _"Akira, are you alright?"_

Thankfully, he answered,  _"Ah, y-yeah..."_

"So, why's he Joker?" Ryuji asked.

That question was the one that's been overflowing inside Akira's mind. He's not sure about that since it's also a name of a certain serial killer and a curse. But Morgana wouldn't know about that. Wait, maybe he's implying...

"Because he's our trump card when it comes to fighting strength." Morgana explained.

"O-Oh, so that's what you meant..." Akira immediately became composed again, much to Arsene's relief. The raven did a bit of thinking, despite what it implies inside his mind, it's not a bad code name, actually. In fact, it sounds kinda cool, "Not bad, I like it."

Morgana was pleased by his answer, "It's settled then!" He turned to Ryuji and examined him closely, "Next up is you, Ryuji. You'll be... Let's see..."

"Thug."

Akira and Arsene nearly bursted out laughing and had to cover their mouths.

Although, Ryuji wasn't pleased, "Are you pickin' a fight with me!?" He turned to Akira, who was done chuckling, "What about you?"

Akira thumbed his chin and thought about it, "...Gangster?"

He threw his friend a betrayed look.

Though, Arsene also made a suggestion, "Outlaw?"

"Dude!"

Kidd was next, "Bootlegger?"

"What does that even mean!?"

Zorro's turn, "Desperado."

Morgana hopped, "Oh! What about Hoodlum?"

"Enough with the criminal names already!"

Ryuji repeatedly tapped his foot as he tries to come up with his come name, a few seconds later, he looked at his Persona, "Hm... When it comes to me, it's gotta be my mask. Honestly, I actually kinda like it. What if we named me after it?"

"Fine... Why not ' **Skull** ' then?" Morgana was a bit disappointed that none of the names that he, Akira and the Personas came up with didn't make the shot.

Ryuji grinned, "Ooh! That sounds awesome! I'm Skull!" He then turned to Morgana then to Akira, "What do we do about this one's code name?"

"What do you think?" Akira asked him. Most of the names he came up for Morgana are mostly... cat-related. He isn't sure he would like that.

"...How about 'Mona'?" That's a little too simple but it's fine.

Morgana seems to be okay with it, "Well, if Joker thinks it's easier to call me that, then I'll go with it. All right. From here on out, we're Joker, Skull, and Mona. We need to be absolutely thorough about using those code names from now on!"

Akira noticed his Persona seemed to be staring at Morgana,  _"Arsene, is something wrong?"_

_"Oh, I was just thinking of his code name. I think Schrodinger suits him better."_

_"Yeah. But I don't think he'd appreciate being named after a cat."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I had to finish this as soon as I can since exams are coming up. New chapters might take a while.


End file.
